H.Res. 161

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members

may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 14.

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

Mr. Chair, today, the majority will unlock the policies for making America safe and prosperous again by advancing the FY 2025 budget resolution.

Mr. Chairman, this fiscal framework will guide the process for restoring the fiscal health of our Nation by reining in reckless spending and reigniting economic growth. In addition, it provides critical resources to our Commander in Chief to secure our border, strengthen our military, and provide for the common defense.

For the next 2 hours, Mr. Chairman, my Democratic colleagues are going to reach way back to the only plays they know how to run: making false claims and fear-mongering.

Why? Because they are still, even after the recent election, disconnected from the people's reality because they are more concerned with protecting unionized government bureaucrats and woke and wasteful government programs than they are about protecting taxpayers and their sacred treasure.

Why? Because their commitment isn't to we the people in this fateful moment. It is to we the government and to derailing the mandate from the people for commonsense policies and President Trump's America First agenda.

I am going to take some time to set the record straight, Mr. Chairman, so that every time the American people hear these false claims to mislead them into thinking that the tax cuts somehow benefited the billionaires and corporations and that Republicans are cutting benefits for seniors and the poorest among us, I want the American people to know the truth. Here is the truth: The Trump tax cuts lower tax rates for every American household at every income level while increasing the amount of taxes paid by the top 1 percent.

According to The Washington Post--which, by the way, gave Democrats not one, not two, not three, but four Pinocchios every time they made these misleading claims--$3 of every $4 in the Trump tax cuts didn't go to corporations but to individuals, cutting taxes for the lowest income individuals by 10 percent while cutting taxes for the top 1 percent of income earners by less than one-half of 1 percent.

In addition, we saw a record 25-year wage increase for median household incomes. Real wages in the bottom 10 percent rose two times faster than the top 10 percent. Real wealth at the bottom half of households rose three times faster than that of the top half of our country.

A record 6 million people were lifted out of poverty. Black, Hispanic, and Asian-American citizens experienced historic high incomes and all-time low unemployment.

Here is the reality, Mr. Chairman: Our Democratic colleagues opposed the American people's tax cuts back in 2017, and they oppose their tax cuts today.

If they were successful in this endeavor, here is what would happen. We would have a 22 percent tax hike on every American citizen, on average, when they just suffered through a 21 percent tax hike from the inflation tax over the last 4 years and the worst cost-of-living crisis in modern history. Median-income families would lose $1,700. Twenty-six million small businesses would pay at the highest marginal rate and lose the 20 percent deduction, putting them on a comparable level to corporate tax rates. Forty million families would have the child tax credits for their children cut in half. Ninety-one percent of the American people who get the standard deduction would have that cut in half.

Those are the results of the Democrats standing in the way of what would be, if they were successful, the highest tax hike in American history.

Here is the other false claim. To pay for these tax cuts, the Democrats are going to say that Republicans are cutting benefits for seniors and for, again, our poorest and most vulnerable among us. Here is the truth, Mr. Chairman: Republicans are fighting to rightsize a woke, weaponized, and bloated bureaucracy; to root out the trillions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse; and to rein in the reckless spending of the Biden administration and our Democratic colleagues from over the last 4 years.

Prior to 2019, before President Biden took office and he and the Democrats jammed $2 trillion through in the so-called COVID relief, even though maybe 10, 20 percent of that money actually went for the purposes of COVID relief, our budget back then was $4.5 trillion. Today, it is $7 trillion.

With the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, they gave away $700 billion in tax credits to green energy corporations. They expanded ObamaCare subsidies to people making more than half a million dollars, many of whom already had employer-sponsored healthcare. They expanded the IRS to 80,000 new IRS agents tasked with shaking down mostly middle-class people and small businesses.

With the stroke of a pen, President Biden wasted $2 trillion unilaterally of taxpayer money by opening up our taxpayer-funded welfare services to people in this country illegally; waived work requirements for means-tested welfare programs, from SNAP to Medicaid and beyond, trapping people in poverty and dependence on the Federal Government; mandated expensive and unreliable electric vehicles for all Americans; and a whole lot more.

In fact, we are spending $9,000 per illegal immigrant in this country for the millions of people who violated our sovereignty and came to this country in violation of our immigration laws. Mr. Chairman, $9,000 is what taxpayers pay for people who are here illegally for taxpayer- funded social services. That is more than we spend on the most vulnerable Americans for Medicaid. That is more than we spend collectively for our veterans' military retirement. President Biden weakened government program integrity, allowing people who aren't eligible for Medicaid and other programs to receive benefits.

Case in point, we used to review the Medicaid rolls twice a year to make sure people who were on the rolls were those who were most vulnerable and those who qualified according to the law. That was revoked by the Biden administration. They only did it once a year. If we changed it back, we would eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse and save $160 billion of taxpayer money.

President Biden implemented unconstitutional and regressive student loan bailouts, forcing working Americans to subsidize the upper-middle class, law

students, and medical students. These are folks who deferred their education. These are hardworking people who didn't think they could afford college.

We have an unprecedented opportunity, Mr. Chairman. My fellow Republicans and I have a sacred obligation at this moment to meet this moment with the urgency it demands.

Now more than ever is the time for Republicans in Congress to demonstrate the courage of their convictions and take bold action in this historic moment. Let's save this country, save our children's future, and save us from wrecking the greatest economy in the world and jeopardizing our national security and our leadership in the world.

The world is counting on a safe, strong, and free America, and I believe that this bill encapsulates the policies that are going to restore America's greatness.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support it, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

What you won't hear from my Democratic colleagues is any mention of the half a trillion dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicaid program that jeopardizes that program for the most vulnerable Americans and does a disservice to every taxpayer in this great country of ours.

By the way, when I hear the words ``betrayal of the middle class,'' what comes to mind is the unbridled spending and the failed economic policies that gave us the worst cost-of-living crisis in modern history. A whole lot of people suffered under that 21 percent inflation tax, and a whole lot more people would suffer under a 22 percent tax increase if they were successful in killing the American people's tax cuts.

Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Smucker), my friend, the vice chair of the Budget Committee, and a key architect, I would say, of this budget blueprint.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Moore), former speaker of the house of the Tar Heel State and a Budget Committee member.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes), another Budget Committee member who had a hand in developing this fiscal framework.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Hern), my good friend and our Conference Policy Committee chair.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cline), my good friend and a member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I wonder when my Democrat colleagues will direct their indignation and outrage to the fact that DOGE and our friend, Elon Musk, has exposed tremendous, outrageous, and utterly offensive waste like transgender operas in Colombia, DEI musicals in Ireland, transgender comic books, and $20 million on ``Sesame Street.'' I would only have to assume my Democrat colleagues think that is the way to find peace in the Middle East. It is insane, and it is offensive to the taxpayers. You will never hear a single word about that in this debate today.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bergman).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gill), my friend and also a member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Clyde), my friend and another Budget Committee member.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia.

Mr. CLYDE: Mr. Chair, GAO alone estimates that the fraud in Medicaid is at least $50 billion a year.

Mr. Chair, I include in the Record this report from the GAO, which states $50 billion a year of improper payments.

[From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Mar. 26, 2024]

Improper Payments: Information on Agencies' Fiscal Year 2023 Estimates

(Q&A Report to the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch, Committee on

Appropriations, House of Representatives)

Why This Matters

Improper payments--those that should not have been made or

were made in the incorrect amount--have consistently been a

government-wide issue. Since fiscal year 2003, cumulative

improper payment estimates by executive branch agencies have

totaled about $2.7 trillion. Reducing improper payments is

critical to safeguarding federal funds.

We have reported on improper payments in our audit reports

on the U.S. government's consolidated financial statements

since fiscal year 1997. We have found that these payments

represent a material deficiency or weakness in internal

controls. Specifically, we have noted that the federal

government is unable to determine the full extent of its

improper payments or to reasonably assure that appropriate

actions are taken to reduce them.

House Report 117-389, which accompanied the Legislative

Branch Appropriations Act, 2023, includes a provision for GAO

to provide quarterly reports on improper payments. This is

our fifth such report, and it provides an overview of federal

agencies' improper payment estimates for fiscal year 2023.

Additionally, we discuss agencies' compliance with legal

requirements for reporting and managing improper payments.

Key Takeaways

In fiscal year 2023, federal agencies estimated a total of

$236 billion in improper payments, a decrease of about $11

billion from the prior fiscal year. About $175 billion (or 74

percent) of these improper payments were overpayments.

The total fiscal year 2023 improper payment estimate does

not include some programs that agencies have determined are

susceptible to significant improper payments, such as the

Department of Health and Humans Services' (HHS) Temporary

Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

In fiscal year 2022, 14 of the 24 agencies covered by the

Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 (CFO Act) fully complied

with applicable improper payment criteria, as reported by

their agency inspectors general.

What are the federal agencies' estimates for fiscal year 2023 improper

payments?

Agencies reported about $236 billion in improper payment

estimates for fiscal year 2023. This amount represents a

decrease of about $11 billion from the fiscal year 2022

estimate (see fig. 1).

Our analysis of agency data shows that 14 agencies reported

improper payment estimates across 71 programs. As shown in

figure 2, about 79 percent ($186 billion) of the government-

wide total of estimated improper payments that agencies

reported for fiscal year 2023 is concentrated in five program

areas:

HHS's Medicare, comprising three programs ($51 billion);

HHS's Medicaid ($50 billion);

the Department of Labor's Unemployment Insurance--Federal

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance ($44 billion);

the Department of the Treasury's Earned Income Tax Credit

($22 billion); and

the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Paycheck

Protection Program Loan Forgiveness ($19 billion).

As seen in figure 3, most of the total $236 billion in

government-wide improper payment estimates for fiscal year

2023 consisted of overpayments. The remaining improper

payments consisted of underpayments, unknown payments, and

technically improper payments.

It should be noted that the fiscal year 2023 improper

payment estimates do not include certain programs that

agencies have determined are susceptible to significant

improper payments. As a result, the government-wide total

potentially does not represent the full extent of improper

payments. For example, the $236 billion total does not

include HHS's TANF program. HHS reported that it does not

have the authority to obtain the information it needs to

estimate or report improper payment amounts for this program.

In April 2022, we recommended that Congress consider

providing HHS the authority to require states to report the

data the agency needs to estimate and report on improper

payments for TANF. As of February 2024, Congress has not

acted on this recommendation.

How many programs reported substantial declines in improper payments?

Our analysis of PaymentAccuracy.gov data found that eight

programs experienced substantial declines in reported

estimated improper payments for fiscal year 2023 (see table

3). Agencies attributed these declines to factors such as

terminating certain programs and implementing mitigation

strategies. In addition, variability arising from the

improper payment estimation process could potentially explain

a portion of the reported declines.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from

Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson), our Agriculture Committee chair and my friend.

Mr. Chair, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman), the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Rogers), who is the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

Mr. Chairman, the minority leader regurgitated a talking point from the Democratic Party we have heard now for years. We heard it prior to the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The gentleman said that 83 percent of the tax cuts in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act benefits would accrue to the top 1 percent of income earners. The Washington Post, which is no bastion of conservative journalism, gave him two Pinocchios for that one and called it a zombie claim. They called it galling. PolitiFact agreed with them and said that it was flat-out misleading.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock), who is also a member of the House Budget Committee.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from the State of Indiana (Mr. Stutzman).

Mr. Chairman, I can't believe my ears of Democrats criticizing the audacity of Republicans here in Washington, our Nation's Capital, giving the hard-earned money back to the people, letting them keep more of their money as they have suffered 4 years under record inflation, record interest rate hikes, and record consumer debt. How dare Republicans give money back to small businesses and working families so that they can pay the bills and provide for their families?

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Graves), the ``Show-Me'' State, our House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Jordan), my good friend and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg), my friend and the chair of the House Education and Workforce. Committee.

Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Smith), my good friend from the Cornhusker State who is also chair of the Ways and Means Committee's Trade Subcommittee.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Nebraska.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill), my good friend and the chair of the House Financial Services Committee.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards), also a Budget Committee member who helped us draft this budget framework.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McDowell), a Budget Committee member and good friend.

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

Mr. Chairman, I remind the gentleman that the last 4 years, President Biden and my Democratic colleagues set a record of $8 trillion added to the national debt. If you add the $5 trillion in interest expense, well, I don't know that anybody is going to ever accomplish that feat. That is $6 billion borrowed a day, and during that reign of reckless spending, they added $116,000 to the debt burden that our children will bear into the future.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Obernolte), also a Budget Committee member.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman), also my colleague on the House Budget Committee.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

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

I think God has had mercy on this country, and he is giving us a shot now to turn this country around and to give it back to the American people; to return to commonsense policies, to put the American people first, and to clean up the mess in Washington, D.C.

We have seen the exposure of the waste and the woke and the bloat, and it is immoral to hand our country like this to the next generation. We are long overdue to get our fiscal house in order, Mr. Chairman.

The American people deserve to keep more of their money. The American people deserve fiduciaries in Congress who will take care to steward their tax dollars. The people who need these programs that we created for the most vulnerable deserve to have the programs without having folks siphon off moneys or people that are ineligible draining those programs.

We have got a lot of work to do. We won't be intimidated by the rhetoric. We won't be scared into paralysis anymore as a Republican Party. We are standing up with our President and fearless leader, Mr. Donald J. Trump. We know the American people are behind us 100 percent. We are leaning in, and we are going to save this country.

We are going to give our children a fighting chance at the blessings of liberty and the land of opportunity.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Norman), a member of the Budget Committee, my good friend who is a fighter for our freedom and fiscal sanity.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from South Carolina.

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

Mr. Chair, my good friend and ranking member made a comment about Mr. Ralph Norman from South Carolina. Listen closely to what he said. He would like to cut $5 trillion from the budget.

Add my name to that list because the GAO says there is $5 trillion of fraud throughout the four corners of this Federal Government. That is the people's money. We ought to spend every waking hour together, across the aisle, and in a bipartisan way to go and root out that waste and fraud that is fleecing the taxpayers.

Count me in the camp of Mr. Ralph Norman when the Government Accountability Office says that there is $5 trillion of defrauding the people's government and the people's money. We will not hear anybody on the other side of the aisle, and there are some good and well-intended people. In this debate we will not hear them talking about illegals being on welfare rolls or the fact their President, President Joe Biden, with the stroke of a pen, welcomed illegals onto welfare and healthcare rolls.

We can't even afford Social Security benefits because the fund will be insolvent within the next 10 years. Instead, we are bringing people who aren't even citizens onto the social safety nets that are paid for by taxpayers. We are not spending that money, that precious treasure of taxpayers, to shore up Medicare and Social Security.

It makes no sense to me. Do you know what? It made no sense to the American people. That is why they gave this President a mandate and gave this country unified Republican leadership. They are apparently still in denial. They are disconnected from the reality of the last 4 years.

They may have had all the best intentions, but the pain and the suffering that the American people endured because of the reckless, record trillions of dollars in spending and the failed economic policies of the last administration is real. They didn't forget it. They voted with that acid test and that fundamental question: Is my life better today?

I don't think there has ever been in American history a clearer contrast between the two parties back to back with Republican total control in '17 and '18, Democrat unified leadership on the heels of that, and the philosophies, the values, the worldviews, the policies, and the consequences borne by the American people.

Mr. Chair, they have chosen a very different path, and they have asked us to reverse course and to reverse the curse that looms not only over this country but our children's future.

I am surprised that I haven't heard one sentence about the waste, fraud, and abuse in the Federal Government at $5 trillion. I am surprised that I haven't heard any criticisms of the millions of people who have come to this country illegally and drained Medicaid, according to CBO, by billions of dollars. That was a letter in response to an inquiry that we sent.

How much of the tax dollars and Medicaid are being siphoned off for people who are here illegally? I can't believe there is not more indignation on account of the fact that $9,000 is what we are spending on people who broke the law, violated our sovereignty, and are here in this country illegally.

Taxpayers are spending $9,000 per illegal immigrant for social services that were intended for the United States citizens. That $9,000 represents more money than we spend on our own vulnerable American citizens on Medicaid, but we won't hear any of that today.

The American people know better. They have always had better judgment, and they made the right call. We aim to deliver for them.

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

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

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

Mr. Chair, let me also pay respects to my ranking member. He is a great guy. He has been a really good partner. We have done some really important things together on a bipartisan basis. In fact, we passed more bipartisan legislation to fix the broken budget process which doesn't serve either party in this institution well.

Mr. Chair, I give him equal credit, if not more credit. When you are the minority, there is tremendous pressure not to work with the majority. He is an American first. We may disagree, but I know where his heart is.

Let me answer the question to the ranking member. The $5 trillion is a CBO score. That is a 10-year budget window score just like the $2 trillion that we have as a goal to reduce reckless, wasteful, and fraudulent spending.

Mr. Chair, the reconciliation process is generally to reconcile the House and

Senate budgets but more than a process for matching up revenues and outlays. This exercise, more importantly, is reconciling the difference between the American people's interest, expectations, and values in a Federal Government that has totally lost its way, forgotten who it serves, and too often has failed to faithfully, fairly, and efficiently execute the laws of the land.

Mr. Chair, if we learned anything from the November election, it is that the American people want a strong country. They want a competent leader and commonsense policies, and they want all of us to put America first. That is what this budget resolution does.

I like to think of this budget resolution as a promissory note to our children to preserve the land of liberty and opportunity by safeguarding it from an unwieldy government with unbridled spending, taxing, and regulating that threatens to destroy it.

Mr. Chairman, I said this in the Budget Committee, and I am going to say it now to close: The era of wasteful, woke, and weaponized government is over, and this budget resolution will be its tombstone. Here lies one of the darkest chapters in American history: open borders, record crime, lawlessness, feckless foreign policies, cost-of- living crises. Enough. It is time to reverse the curse. It is time to reverse the reckless spending and failed policies and do the first and most important job of the Federal Government: Keep the American people safe.

That is exactly what we intend to do, and that is exactly what we deliver with this framework.

Mr. Chairman, I include in the Record three statements from organizations supporting this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H. Con. Res. 14, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Chairman, I should be quite clear about what this is really about. This budget represents a Republican betrayal of the middle class, and I am proud to rise to oppose it.

Here is what is at stake. My friends on the other side of the aisle want to deliver $4.5 trillion of tax cuts, almost all of which go to the richest 1 percent of Americans. How do they pay for it? How do they pay for that $4.5 trillion in tax cuts?

First, at least $880 billion is from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Those cuts from Medicaid, by the way, represent the largest cuts to Medicaid in American history. Seventy-two million Americans get their healthcare from Medicaid. I am mostly talking about seniors, children, and those with disabilities. Another 20 million Americans get their healthcare from the ACA. Combined, I am talking about 92 million Americans whose healthcare is at risk. Why? All to deliver tax cuts to billionaires.

Now, we have a math problem because even with the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, we don't get anywhere close to $4.5 trillion. How do they finance the rest of it? We have more cuts, hundreds of billions more in cuts to education programs like school lunches, Head Start, and student loan repayment. There are also $230 billion in cuts to nutrition assistance at a time when grocery prices are at record highs.

All told, that gets you to at least $1.5 trillion. Remember, the size of the tax cuts is $4.5 trillion, and they want to add some more spending on top of that. What do they do to make up the difference? Increase the national debt by $4 trillion, a massive increase to our national debt from the same crowd that for the last 4 years has done nothing but shed crocodile tears about the size of our national debt.

Mr. Chair, you can always tell when there is a Democrat in the White House because that is when the other side cares about the size of the national debt, but when there is a Republican President, a Republican House, a Republican Senate, the top priority is always tax cuts for the top 1 percent.

A budget isn't just numbers on a spreadsheet. It is a reflection of our values. It is a reflection of what kind of country we are and want to be.

This past November, there was a lot of campaigning going on around this country, and especially in my State, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. After all, we are the biggest battleground State in the Nation. A lot of promises were made on both sides. A lot of it was about reducing costs for ordinary Americans.

Not once, ever, in that campaign did I ever hear the other side say: We are going to cut Medicaid to the tune of $880 billion, the biggest cuts to Medicaid in American history. In fact, we have a President who said: I will love and cherish Medicaid. Then a few hours later, he endorsed the House Republican plan that slashes Medicaid to the tune of $880 billion. When this President promises to love and cherish something, watch your wallets.

I think the American people are going to figure out what this is about. It is right there in black and white. The $880 billion I talked about, it is right there in their 58-page resolution. The $4 trillion increase in debt is right there in black and white in their resolution. No amount of spinning will get you away from that simple reality. This is cutting healthcare and all sorts of programs for the American people in order to deliver tax cuts for billionaires who don't need it.

I urge every Member in this House to oppose this reckless and unfair plan.

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

Mr. Chairman, I would remind my fellow Pennsylvanian that this bill would put 3.1 million people in Pennsylvania at risk of losing Medicaid.

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

Mr. Chair, I would remind the gentleman that this bill would put 2.8 million people in North Carolina at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal), the ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Chair, the gentleman from Kansas is right, it is a big, beautiful bill for billionaires. I would also remind the gentleman that this bill would put 410,000 people in his State of Kansas at risk of losing Medicaid.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from the Commonwealth of Virginia (Mr. Scott), the ranking member of the Education and Workforce Committee, also a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentleman that this bill would put 990,000 people in Oklahoma at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Craig), the ranking member of the Agriculture Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the gentleman this bill would put 1.8 million people in the Commonwealth of Virginia at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett), my distinguished colleague on the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the gentleman that this bill would put 2.4 million people in Michigan at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Speaker, let's be clear. That is what this debate is about. The other side is great at trying to distract you, holding up the shiny object of a few outlandish stories about tens of thousands of dollars to distract you from the trillions of dollars that are at stake. One in three Americans get their healthcare from Medicaid. That is at risk because of this proposal, and don't forget it. We can't allow ourselves to get distracted.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Peters), my colleague and friend on the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the gentleman this bill would put 4.2 million people in Texas at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), a distinguished member and friend from the Budget Committee.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentlewoman from Ohio.

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

Since the gentleman asked the question, I am happy to answer it. Right there in the bill, $880 billion directed to the Energy and Commerce Committee as a floor to find savings. In other words, for cuts. There is only one place that can come from. Literally, if they cut 100 percent of everything else Energy and Commerce has purview over, it would still leave them hundreds of billions of dollars short. It has to come from Medicaid. It has to come from the ACA premiums because much like when Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he replied: Because that is where the money is.

Likewise, in terms of the Energy and Commerce cuts, the $880 billion has to come from Medicaid because that is the only place you can find $880 billion. Don't be fooled by their rhetorical tricks.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson Coleman), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Chair, I remind my friend and fellow Pennsylvanian who just spoke, this resolution would put 3.1 million people in our beloved Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Chair, I would remind the gentleman that this bill would put 1.3 million people in Missouri at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Escobar), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Chair, I would remind the gentleman that this big, beautiful bill for billionaires would put 820,000 people in Arkansas at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), the Democratic leader of the House and my friend.

Mr. Chair, I remind the gentleman that this bill would put 950,000 people in Alabama at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Omar), who is a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Chair, I remind the gentleman this bill would put 13.4 million people in California at risk of losing Medicaid.

I further remind my friend, the chair of the Budget Committee, that it was not the Democratic leader's statistic that he was quoting about 83 percent. It was the Congressional Budget Office that found that 83 percent of the 2017 Trump tax cuts go to the richest 1 percent of Americans.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko), who is a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Chair, I remind the gentleman that this bill would put 1.8 million Hoosiers at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), who is the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee.

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

Mr. Chairman, the chair of the Budget Committee said something moments ago to the effect of: This is about giving the people their money back.

That is not so. This is about the one in three Americans on Medicaid who are at risk of losing it because what is in this budget plan in black and white are the largest cuts to Medicaid in American history and cuts to other programs like SNAP, school lunches, and Head Start. Why is that? It is to deliver tax cuts, 83 percent of which go to the richest 1 percent of Americans. That is what this plan is about.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), my friend and ranking member of the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentlewoman from Connecticut.

Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Ohio is actually right: It is a dangerous world.

Mr. Chairman, do my colleagues know what makes it more dangerous? It is when, under this administration, the United States is voting with Russia and North Korea and Hungary and voting against every single one of our democratic allies. That makes a dangerous world infinitely more dangerous.

Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Huffman), my good friend and the ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from California.

Mr. Chair, I wouldn't want to disappoint the gentleman from Michigan, so I am happy to inform him of the accurate number. This bill would put 2.4 million people in Michigan at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Jayapal), a distinguished former member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Chair, I will remind the gentleman that this bill would put 340,000 people in Nebraska at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Chu), a member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentlewoman from California.

Mr. Chairman, upon hearing that the richest 1 percent of Americans pay 45 percent in taxes, my heart is breaking. I will be sure that at church this Sunday we take up an extra collection, but God knows that the billions of dollars they are about to get in this budget resolution will certainly help line their pockets.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. McGarvey), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Chair, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. Chair, I remind the gentleman who just spoke that this bill would put 2.8 million people in North Carolina at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Amo), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Chairman, I remind the gentleman this bill would put 2.8 million people in North Carolina at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Moskowitz), a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Chair, I remind the gentleman that this resolution would put 13.4 million people in California at risk of losing Medicaid.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Vermont (Ms. Balint), a great member of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentlewoman from Vermont.

Mr. Chair, I would remind the gentleman, this bill would put 1.2 million people in the Badger State at risk of losing Medicaid.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Pressley), a distinguished member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Mr. Chair, I remind the gentleman that this bill would put 1 million people in South Carolina at risk of losing Medicaid.

I appreciate the previous speaker's candor. He is saying he wants $5 trillion worth of cuts. To quote him, this is only the beginning. I hope that every middle-class American hears that and knows what is coming. By his own words, this is just the beginning. This is bad enough.

What are we talking about? We are talking about $880 billion worth of cuts to Medicaid and the ACA, $230 billion worth of cuts to nutrition programs, $330 billion worth of cuts to student loan programs, Pell grants, Head Start, school lunches, and more. Why? It is all so tax cuts worth $4.5 trillion can go to the richest 1 percent of Americans.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Ms. Pou), a wonderful new Member of this body and a distinguished member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

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

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

Mr. Chair, let me first say before my closing that my good friend and chair of the Budget Committee and I have worked closely together in opposition a lot of the time but actually in agreement some of the time with some real achievements, though not today.

He said something that really interests me. There is this GAO report showing $5 trillion of fraud. I certainly would be interested in seeing that report. The size of the entire budget every year is only $6.5 trillion. How in the world is $5 trillion out of $6.5 trillion really fraud? I find it a little hard to believe.

Mr. Chair, we are at a pivotal moment. I said at the beginning of this debate some 2\1/2\ hours ago that this budget resolution represents the Republican betrayal of the middle class. For the last 2\1/2\ hours, we have heard speaker after speaker on my side expose exactly why that is so.

First and foremost, and I think most crucially, the $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid, the largest cuts in American history to Medicaid, why is that important? It is important because 72 million Americans rely on Medicaid. Another 20 million rely and get their healthcare through the Affordable Care Act. They are also at risk.

We have heard further that, while those are the biggest cuts, there are even more. There are hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to nutrition assistance, school lunch programs, Pell grants, and Head Start. The list goes on and on. Why is that? It is all to deliver $4.5 trillion of tax cuts to the richest 1 percent of Americans.

Let's not forget the fact that in order to cover the rest of the costs of those tax cuts, they are increasing the debt limit by $4 trillion. They like to talk about debt and how horrible it is, but this piece of legislation will make our debt situation far worse.

This is the Republican betrayal of the middle class. Day after day, in my home State of Pennsylvania, candidates from both sides talk about how the number one priority should be to lower costs for Americans. The President made that promise. He said he would do it on day one.

Here we are more than a month in, and there is not one executive order or one bill to lower the costs for the American people. Instead, we have this bill to take money from the middle class and give it to those who need it the least.

Mr. Chair, I am proud to lead the opposition to this Republican betrayal of the middle class. I urge every Member of this House to vote ``no,'' and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Houchin) for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, before I get into my statement, let me begin by saying that I keep on hearing from the other side that this is just a budget resolution and that it doesn't have any actual policies in it. Yet, the gentlewoman referred to all the tax cuts.

Can she point me to where the resolution says anything about tax cuts? Of course, the answer is that it doesn't.

What it does is simply instruct our tax-writing committees to write legislation to spend $4.5 trillion, just as it instructs our SNAP committee to cut $290 billion and our Medicaid committee to cut $880 billion.

Republicans cannot have it both ways and pretend that the harms aren't real while the tax cuts are, but we know the harms are real. We know what is planned, and we have seen the leaked document.

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, it looks like facts and truth have absolutely no place in this administration or in this Republican Party. We already knew that this administration lies like a rug.

First, we heard that the United States was sending $50 million worth of condoms to Hamas, which was a lie.

Then we heard it was Ukraine that started the war, not Russia, which is another lie.

Then we heard that the terrible plane crash here in Washington happened because of diversity programs, which was also a lie.

Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Houchin) wants us to believe that not a single thing in the budget she is arguing for is going to hurt anyone at all and that there isn't a single tax giveaway to billionaires in their budget.

Guess what, Mr. Speaker. It is simply not accurate.

We all saw this coming. We did. Last month, at Trump's inauguration, who was in the front row? It wasn't people on Medicaid. It wasn't factory workers. It wasn't nurses or teachers or firefighters. It wasn't even his own Cabinet. It was the richest people in the world, and that is who this Republican budget helps.

It steals from taxpayers and funnels the money to those at the very top. Imagine stealing from school meals for kids so that billionaires could get another tax giveaway.

Last night, in the Rules Committee, the gentlewoman claimed: No, no, no. Democrats can't prove there are any cuts in this budget. Except, Mr. Speaker, we can. We can. Let me lay it out as simply as I can for people.

The Republican budget cuts, for example, $330 billion from programs related to education, and the same Representative who wrote this budget, the chair of the Budget Committee, Mr. Arrington, also wrote this document right here, Mr. Speaker, which I have in front of me. It says in black and white that those education cuts include $12 billion from school meals. How dare my colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

Mr. Speaker, I am sorry that the gentlewoman doesn't like these facts, but they are facts.

School meals are just one example. This budget makes deep, deep cuts to Medicaid, including long-term care; deep cuts to food assistance for hungry families; and deep cuts to Pell grants. These cuts are going to hurt people.

I ask the gentlewoman a simple question: Whose side is she on? Does she want to stand with the school kids in her district who rely on school meals to get through the day, or does she side with the billionaires who are getting another tax giveaway in this budget?

Does she stand with the 178,119 constituents in her district who are on Medicaid? Does she stand with the thousands and thousands of kids in her district who rely on school meals, or does she stand with the greedy corporations who are price gouging struggling families?

I know where I stand, Mr. Speaker, and we are going to fight like hell to oppose this awful Republican budget because we know whose side we are on. We are going to fight like our constituents' lives depend on it because they do.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, there are just a couple of points I will make.

I am still waiting for the gentlewoman from Indiana to tell me where the tax cuts are in this budget. My colleagues can't have it both ways. They can't say there are all these tax cuts in this budget, yet there are no cuts. The reality is, there are cuts in this budget.

To the gentleman who just spoke from South Carolina, he may need a reminder. Maybe he could do a townhall in his district. He might get an earful. Mr. Speaker, 74,000 of his constituents received coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

By supporting this resolution, he is betraying the 148,948 constituents in his district who depend on Medicaid for their essential care and the 85,000 constituents in the Fifth District who rely on SNAP to put food on the table.

Maybe do a townhall and listen to constituents rather than just big donors.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/4\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz).

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

Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman is talking about what was said in the Rules Committee last night. I will take a couple of minutes to talk about how people voted in the Rules Committee last night.

We gave Republicans a chance last night in the Rules Committee. We said if they really don't believe that this budget cuts funding for school meals, if they really believe what they are saying, then they can vote to ensure the American people that they are not going to steal school meals from kids in order to give tax breaks for millionaires. Every Republican voted no, every single one of them.

Then, Democrats offered an amendment to protect Medicaid. Medicaid, as you know, Mr. Speaker, covers 41 percent of all births in the United States, nearly half of children with special healthcare needs, and five in eight nursing home residents. We asked them not to cut Medicaid in order to fund tax breaks for billionaires. Every Republican voted no.

Then, Democrats offered an amendment to extend tax cuts for people making under $400,000 while ensuring that corporations and billionaires pay their fair share. We asked Republicans to continue tax cuts for only those who need it the most because those are the tax cuts they let expire while their tax cuts for greedy corporations were made permanent. We asked them to prioritize working families over greedy corporations. Every Republican voted no.

Then, Democrats offered an amendment preventing tax giveaways for people earning over $1 million a year. Every Republican voted no.

We wanted to see if there was anyone so rich that Republicans don't think they deserve a tax giveaway, so we asked them to vote against tax breaks for people earning over $100 million per year. We asked them to side with factory workers and firefighters over hedge fund managers and billionaire bankers. Every Republican voted no.

We even offered an amendment preventing tax cuts for people with a net worth of over--get this--$1 billion. Every Republican voted no.

They betrayed their constituents. They voted to steal from the American people in order to protect tax breaks for billionaires.

Again, this is about whose side you are on. Republicans showed us last night with their votes whose side they are on, and it is not the working people of this country.

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

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

We are here talking about billions of dollars of cuts to Medicaid, school meals, and food for children, and this guy is talking about tankless water heaters. I mean, read the room.

I should just say that by supporting this budget resolution, he is betraying

125,952 constituents in his district that depend on Medicaid for their essential care.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/4\ minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Magaziner).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Morrison).

Mr. Speaker, I notice there are not a lot of people on the other side wanting to defend this budget.

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Gomez).

Mr. Speaker, I don't know if the gentlewoman wants to give us some of her time because we have a lot of speakers over here. I guess not.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Tokuda).

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

Let me just say, by the way, Mr. Speaker, how is that mandate going for you guys now that voters are realizing that you betrayed them?

Let's look at some newspapers from around the country: ``Georgia Congressman confronted by angry crowd over support for Trump's agenda.''

This is from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ``U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick was peppered with boos and catcalls throughout a townhall meeting in Roswell late Thursday, as hundreds of critics jeered the Republican for backing President Donald Trump's agenda during his first month in office.''

There is another one. ``U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman faces hostile crowd in Oshkosh townhall meeting.'' That is in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

``Protesters urge Rep. Scott Perry to say no to Medicaid cuts.'' That is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

``Outside Congressman's office, protesters make noise over potential Medicaid cuts.'' That is from Representative Ryan Mackenzie's district in Salisbury Township in Pennsylvania.

I could spend an hour reading these into the Record, Mr. Speaker. Republicans are getting chewed out at all of

their townhalls. Something is happening in this country right now, and you can feel it. People are waking up to the betrayal, and they are angry. They have a right to be angry.

My Republican colleagues need to remember that when they vote for this budget, they are on record. They have made it clear that they serve the billionaires and not their voters.

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

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time both sides have remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I note the gentlewoman doesn't seem to have any other speakers. I was wondering whether she might want to lend us some of her time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Speaker Emerita, a powerful leader in the Democratic Caucus and for the country.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from California.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record an article from the Economic Policy Institute titled: ``The House Republicans' plan to cut Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the rich would slash incomes for the bottom 40 percent.''

Mr. Speaker, this article details how these cuts would hurt working families more than any tax relief that they might receive.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Stansbury).

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record a letter to Speaker Johnson, signed by eight Republicans, titled: ``Protecting American Communities in the Budget Reconciliation Process.''

Madam Speaker, this letter makes clear that they know that Medicaid, Pell grants, and SNAP will face harmful cuts if this budget passes.

Madam Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to provide for consideration of an amendment to the budget resolution which prevents tax cuts for billionaires if Medicaid is cut by a single cent.

Madam Speaker, 72 million Americans, including 30 million children, rely on Medicaid for critical healthcare and other lifesaving services. With this budget resolution, House Republicans are betraying the most vulnerable Americans to give tax breaks to billionaires.

Representative Gray submitted an amendment that would prevent Republicans from betraying Medicaid recipients in order to give billionaires tax breaks. It shouldn't be controversial.

I offered that amendment last night in the Rules Committee and, to my shock, every single one of my Republican colleagues voted against it, standing with billionaires over Medicaid recipients.

I am now giving every House Republican a chance to go on the record. Voting ``yes'' on the previous question means my colleagues want to cut taxes for billionaires, even at the expense of vital Medicaid coverage. Voting ``no'' gives my colleagues an opportunity to ensure that Medicaid is protected. It is that simple.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment into the Record, along with any extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Madam Speaker, to discuss our proposal, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Gray), the sponsor of this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I say to the gentlewoman that Republican Members are raising concerns about these cuts. Maybe we can share some of those press clippings with her.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).

Madam Speaker, I say to the gentlewoman the facts do matter. Her Members are complaining about the cuts in the Republican budget. Read them.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute in the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Dexter).

Madam Speaker, may I inquire of the gentlewoman how many more speakers she has? I can't remember the last time she had one.

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

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

Madam Speaker, a majority of Americans now say that Donald Trump is doing a bad job at handling the economy. I don't blame them. Prices are going up on everything in large part because of Trump's tariffs. Meanwhile, wages for workers have not kept pace with inflation for decades. Home ownership is slipping out of reach for more and more people.

I will end this debate where we began. Whose side are my Republican colleagues on? Talk is cheap, Madam Speaker. This place runs on hot air from corrupt politicians whose only care in the world is where their next campaign check comes from.

Last night in the Rules Committee, Democrats gave Republicans a chance to show whose side they are on. Every single one of them voted against protecting Medicaid so they could give tax breaks to billionaires. That is how they voted.

Every single one of them voted against protecting the child tax credit so they could give tax cuts to billionaires. Every single one of them voted against protecting food assistance for hungry families so they could give tax breaks to billionaires.

The gentlewoman can claim whatever she wants. The truth is this budget betrays the middle class in favor of tax giveaways for billionaires. It gives trillions in handouts to the ultrawealthy, billionaires, and greedy corporations to the tune of $314,266 each every year for the top 0.1 percent.

That is an average. Some of them will get millions.

That is a bigger giveaway to the ultrarich than most people make in a year. To pay for it, they are stealing from the American people. They are stealing from Americans. They are betraying the people who voted for them. This is the betrayal on a scale I don't think we have ever seen before.

Madam Speaker, I am going to fight to expose it and to stop it. I have said this over and over again. We need tax relief for workers, not the ultrarich. We need to preserve Social Security and Medicare, not gut them to pay for corporate handouts. We should protect Medicaid and food benefits for working families because we know these are programs that people rely on and need when times get tough.

Madam Speaker, you can shut me up but you can't silence the voice of the American people.

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

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 161 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this rule and in support of the underlying legislation.

Last night, the Rules Committee met and produced a rule, House Resolution 161, providing for the House's consideration of several pieces of legislation, including a closed rule for H. Con. Res. 14, the budget resolution.

The rule provides for 2 hours of debate for the Committee on the Budget or their respective designees to debate the congressional budget and an additional hour equally divided and controlled by Representative Schweikert of Arizona and Representative Beyer of Virginia or their respective designees to debate economic goals and policies.

The rule further permits the chair of the Committee on the Budget to offer amendments in the House to achieve mathematical consistency and provides that the concurrent resolution shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question at its adoption.

Additionally, the rule provides for consideration of H.J. Res. 20, a CRA relating to the DOE's water heater rule, under a closed rule. The rule provides for 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce or their respective designees and provides for one motion to recommit.

Finally, the rule provides for consideration of H.J. Res. 35, a CRA relating to EPA's methane tax, under a closed rule. The rule provides for 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce or their respective designees and provides for one motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, notable among the bills this rule provides for is the House budget resolution, H. Con. Res. 14. This budget resolution marks the first step for House Republicans to advance President Trump's America First agenda.

We have heard plenty of fear-mongering and flatout dishonesty from Democrats and their liberal media allies about what is included in this resolution. To be clear, this resolution unlocks the path forward to deliver on our promises to the American people.

Over the next hour, Members are going to hear all of the identity groups

the Democrats want my colleagues to believe this bill hurts. Members will hear them say that Republicans are abandoning the middle class and cutting benefits. None of that is true.

The truth is, there is not one single cut in this bill to any specific program or benefit. The truth is the Democratic Party abandoned the middle class for the liberal elite class a long time ago. The election last November should have been a wake-up call that the American people don't believe them anymore, nor should they.

The Democrats are desperate for attention and for power. Don't give it to them.

Let's set the record straight about what this budget resolution actually accomplishes.

It will provide funding for border security, provide for our national defense, and restore American energy independence. It will provide tax relief for working families.

On border security, Biden's open-border policies resulted in over 8.5 million encounters at the southern border since 2021, a 500 percent increase in illegal crossings, and over $115 billion in costs to State and local governments. Most tragically, Biden's border crisis allowed unprecedented amounts of deadly fentanyl into our communities, killing over 100,000 Americans.

Next, this bill enables us to permanently protect tax relief. President Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provided critical relief to middle-class families and small businesses. Americans are still experiencing high prices because we are still recovering from Bidenomics.

Prices are up 21 percent. Real wages have declined by more than 3 percent. Mortgage rates have skyrocketed. Credit card delinquencies have risen by over 50 percent. Bidenomics cost American families more than $11,000 every year for the last 4 years.

Next, this budget resolution prioritizes energy independence. Under President Trump's first administration, the United States was energy independent for the first time in 40 years. That stopped the day Joe Biden took office, and American families have been hurting ever since.

Under President Biden, the American energy production was severely restricted. Federal lands were blocked from responsible energy development, and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was drained.

Simply put, again, the budget resolution is a framework that will allow us to deliver on the demands of the American people to secure the border, eliminate wasteful spending, revitalize Biden's broken economy, and safeguard our economic prosperity by providing permanent tax relief for working families. I hope our Democratic colleagues will join us in those efforts.

This budget resolution kicks off the reconciliation process and allows our work to begin. Once adopted, our committees and the entire House will begin detailed work to achieve these important goals for the American people.

Mr. Speaker, this rule also provides for consideration of two Congressional Review Act measures: H.J. Res. 20 and H.J. Res. 35.

H.J. Res. 20 provides for congressional disapproval of the rule submitted by the Department of Energy relating to energy conservation standards for consumer gas-fired instantaneous water heaters.

The rule we seek to overturn with this legislation effectively bans certain natural gas water heaters from the market, placing unnecessary financial burdens on consumers, especially seniors and low-income households.

H.J. Res. 35 provides for congressional disapproval of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to natural gas facilities. The EPA's rule imposes a significant fee on methane emissions from oil and natural gas facilities. The fee is essentially a pass-through cost to consumers that will raise prices, harm domestic energy production, and increase our reliance on other countries to meet our own energy needs.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to the consideration of these important pieces of legislation. I urge the passage of this rule, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I commend the other side for finally saying that some of these things that they have been harping on for the last several hours and 24-

hour segments is not true. There is nothing in this budget resolution that presumes cuts to specific programs. Our Democratic colleagues admitted this much themselves last night.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation simply provides flexible spending targets for authorizing committees to best determine what is feasible within their jurisdiction.

I remind my Democratic colleagues that this resolution is the first step in a process to let reconciliation begin, when the real work will happen in the committees. If my colleagues have concerns about potential cuts being proposed once the authorizing committees begin their work, there will be ample opportunity to debate, provide amendment, and find opportunities in the reconciliation instructions for common ground.

Unlike my friends on the other side, we don't view the Rules Committee as the first stop in the legislative process, but, rather, the last. We should let the committees do their work and not prejudge the outcomes or make baseless accusations and presumptions.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Norman), my friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), chairwoman of the Rules Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Jack).

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

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

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

Madam Speaker, the ranking member has discussed a number of votes taken at the Rules Committee markup last night. Once again, the budget is the first step in the process, not the last. Many of these amendments will have the opportunity to be debated thoughtfully and ad nauseam, I have no doubt, in the authorizing committees.

The Democrats are speaking fear, not facts. Saying something that is false over and over again does not make it true. These amendments can be given consideration in the committees of jurisdiction. That is the process of regular order.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I will reiterate that saying something false over and over again doesn't make it true.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close.

Madam Speaker, despite what Democrats may claim, the American people know the Biden-Harris administration caused enormous damage to our economy, weakened our national security, allowed millions of illegal immigrants and deadly fentanyl to flood across our southern border, and crippled American energy independence. That is exactly why voters rejected their failed leadership in the last election.

Once again, this resolution does not cut a single specific program or benefit. The Democrats are speaking fear, not facts, and saying something over and over again that is false does not make it true. Democrats have told these lies before and were proven wrong.

The Democrats want to continue 4 more years of Bidenomics. We want to put us on a path to prosperity. These are the same people claiming that there is no waste, fraud, or abuse in Washington.

This resolution will begin a process that sets a fiscal framework to meet the agenda the American people demanded in November.

Let's talk about some of their claims, that this is a handout to billionaires. It is their party that abandoned the middle class by spending like crazy. Not extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts would be the ultimate betrayal of the middle class. The average taxpayer in my district, in the Ninth District of Indiana, would see a 26 percent tax hike if the tax cuts the Democrats oppose expire.

A family of four making $67,000, the median income in my district, would be a $1,289 tax increase. More than 6 million people were lifted out of poverty under Republican tax reform, dropping the poverty rate to 10.5 percent, the lowest in U.S. history.

They claim this budget slashes food assistance. This resolution makes no changes to current law, no cuts in benefits, zero.

They claim costs will go up. We will reverse Biden's spending spree and bend the curve on mandatory spending that is driving our debt.

Inflation skyrocketed 21 percent under the Biden administration. That is why 77 million Americans voted for President Trump, to fix the economy and rein in Washington's waste, fraud, abuse, and reckless spending.

Let's go with facts, not fear. This resolution doesn't say the words ``SNAP'' or ``Medicaid'' or ``school lunch'' once.

We are cutting waste, fraud, and abuse for people who are here legally. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act helped people get off SNAP, which is a good thing. A GAO report last year showed improper payments could be costing the Federal Government more than $500 billion annually.

I am not here to fight with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. I am here to fight on behalf of the American people, and that is exactly what we are going to continue to do.

In the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, my friends want to scare the American people into thinking that this is a tax cut for billionaires to detract from the fact that the 2017 tax cuts under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act have been extremely successful.

Let's look at what has made it a success. By every conceivable measure, American workers and the economy were better off. Americans earned bigger paychecks, unemployment for every group was at a historic low, and poverty dropped to its lowest level in history.

The 2017 Trump tax cuts lowered tax rates for all Americans. In fact, the lowest earning individuals gained the most benefit. The bottom 20 percent of earners, those with incomes up to $26,000, saw their Federal tax rate fall to the lowest point in 40 years.

Earnings under $100,000 received an average cut of 16 percent, while the share of taxes paid by the top 1 percent increased. This is not simply a tax cut for the rich.

Finally, if these tax cuts expire, it will devastate our Nation's families, workers, and small business owners. The average taxpayer would see a 22 percent tax hike, meaning on average they will pay $1,695 more in taxes; 40 million families will see their child tax credit cut in half; and 26 million small businesses would be hit with a 43.4 percent top tax rate. This is over 20 points higher than what businesses pay in Communist China.

Because of House Republicans and President Trump, American workers enjoyed the fastest wage growth in a decade. This spread to Americans across the income distribution with lower-wage workers experiencing 50 percent higher wage growth than high-income workers. Higher wages led to a rapid growth in household income. Just 2 years after enactment of the tax cuts, real median household income rose by over $5,000.

In total, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's pro-growth policies helped contribute to 3 percent growth in 2018 and 2.6 percent growth in 2019, well above CBO's pre-Tax Cuts and Jobs Act projections of 2.2 percent and 1.7 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, we have seen what Bidenflation has cost American families.

Again, this budget resolution does not cut a single specific program or benefit. The budget resolution sets a framework. It is a first step toward delivering on the America First agenda and getting our country back on track.

We will secure our border. We will rebuild the American economy. We will unleash American energy and safeguard our financial future.

Madam Speaker, 77 million Americans voted for this agenda, and it is our job to deliver on those promises.

I look forward to moving these bills out of the House this week. I ask my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' on the previous question and ``yes'' on the rule.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong opposition to the reckless Republican budget, which is a betrayal of working-class Americans, middle-class Americans, children, seniors, and everyday Americans all across the country.

I thank the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Boyle), the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, for his leadership, all the members of the Budget Committee, and all the members of the House Democratic Caucus, who are standing up for the American people by opposing this reckless Republican budget that will devastate people all across the land.

It is not consistent with promises that were made to the American people. It is the exact opposite. Here is the promise that was made to the American people over and over again: Republicans were going to drive down the high cost of living in the United States of America and combat inflation. That was the promise that Republicans made to the American people.

As House Democrats, we are working hard to lower housing costs, lower grocery costs, lower insurance costs, lower utility costs, and lower childcare costs because we know America is too expensive. We want to drive down the high cost of living.

On the other side of the aisle, we haven't seen a single bill introduced by Republicans to drive down the high cost of living and address the affordability crisis in the United States. Not a single executive order issued by President Trump has anything to do with driving down the high cost of living. Not a single administrative action taken this year by the Trump administration has anything to do with driving down the high cost of living.

In fact, costs aren't going down in the United States of America. Costs are going up. Grocery prices are going up. Inflation is going up. Republicans are crashing the economy in real time.

Republicans have betrayed the American middle-class, working families, everyday Americans, children, and seniors with this $4.5 trillion budget scheme.

Don't come to the House floor and act like this is being done in the name of fiscal responsibility. Enough with that narrative. There is nothing in the Republican track record to suggest to the American people that you are the party of fiscal responsibility, absolutely nothing.

President Reagan comes into office. His signature legislative accomplishment is a massive unpaid-for tax cut for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected. What does it do? It increases the debt by $2 trillion. That is not fiscal responsibility. That is recklessness. That is your record.

Those kinds of fiscal policies continued for 8 years and carried over into the Presidency of George H.W. Bush. Then, we saw a massive debt handed over to President Bill Clinton. What do Democrats do with that massive debt? We turned that debt into a surplus over an 8-year period of time, and the economy exploded.

That is what fiscal responsibility looks like. That happened under President Bill Clinton. Stop saying to the American people that you are the party of fiscal responsibility. The facts say exactly the opposite.

A budget surplus was handed over to President George W. Bush, who proceeded, in 2001 and then again in 2003, to pass massive tax cuts-- same playbook; here we go again--massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected. That explodes the debt by $8 trillion, and at the same time, we have a failed war in Iraq and a failed war in Afghanistan, over time adding another $8 trillion to our Nation's debt.

That burden is handed over to President Barack Obama, but during the period of his time in office, when he had a $1.5 trillion deficit, he cut it by $1

trillion, despite the fact that he also inherited from Republicans the Great Recession and had to turn things around. He cut the deficit by $1 trillion, from $1.5 trillion to $500 billion. You asked about numbers. Here are the numbers.

Then, that gets handed over to President Trump in his first term. He proceeded, of course, to follow the same Republican playbook, which has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility and everything to do with massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected.

Republicans passed the GOP tax scam with 83 percent of the benefits set aside for the wealthiest 1 percent and, in connection with the GOP tax scam, exploded the debt by another $2 trillion that they force working families, middle-class folks, and everyday Americans to pay for.

Republicans are not the party of fiscal responsibility. Stop trying to convince the American people otherwise. It is the same playbook.

In fact, during the administration of Donald Trump during his first 4 years, the debt exploded to such a degree that 25 percent or so of our Nation's debt came from just the first term of President Donald Trump, 25 percent. We have been around for over 248 years. The party of fiscal responsibility?

Then, of course, President Biden inherits a significant deficit and overwhelming debt in his 2 years. The first 2 years he gets a lot done and cuts the deficit by $1.7 trillion.

There is still a lot of work for all of us to do, but do not pretend that this budget resolution has anything to do with fiscal responsibility or keeping their promises to the American people. The Republicans promised to lower the high cost of living and have done nothing about it.

So here we are again, and there they go again with this GOP tax scam, the same exact playbook, $4.5 trillion worth of cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected disproportionately to benefit billionaire donors and well-connected corporations.

To make matters worse, the Republicans would actually cut programs, cut the social safety net, and cut the things that matter to working- class Americans, middle-class Americans, young people, seniors, and others, including up to, if not more, $880 billion of cuts to Medicaid. That is the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.

It doesn't help working-class Americans. It doesn't help middle-class Americans. It doesn't help children, and it doesn't help older Americans. It will devastate them. It will devastate children, devastate people with disabilities, devastate seniors, devastate pregnant women all across the country, devastate nursing homes, and shut down nursing homes. It will shut down hospitals, including in rural America, urban America, small-town America, and the heartland of America. That is what the Republican budget betrayal is all about.

It will devastate supplemental nutritional assistance programs for our children, for our veterans, and for our families. That is what the Republican budget is all about. It has nothing to do with making life better for everyday Americans. It will hurt everyday Americans.

So Democrats are not going to provide this reckless Republican scheme, this out-of-control budget, a single vote, not a single vote, because we are standing on the side of the American people.

We will fight this reckless Republican budget today, we will fight this reckless Republican budget tomorrow, and we will fight this reckless Republican budget until it is buried deep in the ground never to rise again. We will stand on the side of the American people at all times.

Mr. Chair, vote ``no''.