Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart to honor the life and legacy of the Venerable J. Stannard ``Stan'' Baker, who passed away on June 23, 2025, at the age of 79. A devoted deacon in the Episcopal Church and a pioneering advocate for LGBTQI+ rights, Stan's impact on our Nation and on the Commonwealth of Vermont will endure for generations.

Ordained in 2009, Stan served with distinction as Archdeacon of the Episcopal Diocese

of Vermont and as chaplain to retired clergy. His ministry was marked by compassion, humility, and a fierce commitment to justice and healing. In every community he touched, he brought people together, building bridges of understanding and care.

Before his ordained ministry, Stan excelled as a psychotherapist--co- founding BTR Psychotherapy and serving as a Clinical Director and Mental Health Director--offering vital support to individuals and families facing difficult challenges.

Stan's most enduring legacy, however, is his courageous role in Baker v. Vermont. As the lead plaintiff, Stan helped secure Vermont's groundbreaking civil unions law, making it the first state in the nation to grant legal recognition and benefits to same-sex couples. This landmark decision marked a turning point in the struggle for equality--a step so bold and historic that it helped lay the legal and moral foundation for marriage equality across the United States.

So many LGBTQI+ Americans today can trace their right to marry the person they love back to the courage of Stan Baker and his fellow plaintiffs, who stood up at a time when few dared to do so. His action was not only a personal stand but a transformational moment in our Nation's history--one that reshaped the legal landscape and inspired a movement.

His life was also a testament to love and partnership. Stan and his husband, Peter Harrigan, were among the first same-sex couples to enter into a civil union in Vermont--and they later married. Their story reflects both the personal and political progress that can emerge from courage and conviction.

Stan was much more than a public advocate; he was a lover of music, a collector of books and fountain pens, a cello and guitar player, and a person of deep faith and generosity. He is survived by his husband Peter, whose grief is shared by all of us who knew and admired Stan.

Today, we remember Stan Baker--not only for the victories he helped achieve, but for the kindness he expressed, the communities he strengthened, and the hope he inspired.

I urge my colleagues to join me in honoring his memory and recommitting ourselves to the values he embodied: justice, dignity, and love for all. May his life continue to guide us, and may we carry forward his legacy with courage and compassion.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.

Mr. Speaker, this is a cruel bill. Thousands of Americans will die because of it. Rural hospitals will close. Millions will lose their healthcare. Kids will go hungry. Americans will be poorer. They will be sicker because my Republican colleagues

are falling in line instead of standing up for their people back home.

This bill shows us their priorities, and it is not the American people. They are taking away Americans' healthcare to give more money to the very wealthy. This bill is for billionaires and not for Americans.

Mr. Speaker, we all know that the Republicans' so-called big, beautiful bill is wildly unpopular. Every poll, including FOX News, shows that Americans think it is rotten, and it is.

That is why Trump is trying desperately to rehabilitate the bill in the eyes of the public, but Americans aren't stupid. They don't want their healthcare taken away. They don't want us taking food away from hungry people. They don't want our rural hospitals to close. They don't want to add trillions of dollars to the debt, and they sure as hell do not want the wealthy to continue to get rich off the backs of the rest of us.

This is not rocket science. They want a tax code that doesn't screw us over. They want affordable rent and mortgages. They want lower healthcare costs. They want to see us fighting for a better future for their families.

All this bill does is take and take and take away from working people and provide it, once again, to the billionaires who do not need it. They see right through it, and so do we.

Mr. Speaker, right now, ICE is showing up at courthouses across the country, waiting to arrest people after their official immigration hearings.

Is this what we thought we would see in America? ICE officials lying in wait to grab people who are actually following the rules? In some cases, these people had just had their cases dismissed.

They walk into court, following the rules, doing what they were told, following the legal pathways, and they are being taken into unmarked cars and fast-tracked for deportation.

Let's be clear: This isn't about catching dangerous criminals. It was never about catching dangerous criminals.

These are moms, dads, students, grandparents, workers, people who are trying to get through the legal process the right way, but ICE is turning our courthouses into traps.

The very places that immigrants are supposed to go to follow a legal path to citizenship have now become traps to lure people in so that they can be arrested, detained, and disappeared.

ICE tricked a Vermonter, Mohsen Mahdawi. He has been legally in our State for 10 years. He showed up for the final step in his citizenship process only to have masked men detain him after he exited the courthouse. He knew it was a risk to show up, but he decided it was worth the risk to maybe finally become an American.

Imagine going to court, following the process, and then getting arrested the second you step outside. That is what is happening in America right now.

Last month, in San Francisco, four asylum-seekers were taken by ICE after their hearings were over. In New York City, even a city official, Comptroller Brad Lander, was detained by ICE while trying to support an immigrant friend.

If they are willing to rough up city officials, mayors, and even a sitting U.S. Senator, what does that mean for the rest of us? These tactics are to scare people. People are now afraid to go to court.

How does that possibly make our country more safe? People are skipping hearings, risking automatic deportation, because they don't trust the system anymore. How is anyone supposed to follow the legal steps if even those are now a risk?

Republicans claim over and over again in committees that this is only about illegal immigration. It is not. If that were the case, then they would be just as outraged as I am that people are being snatched outside of their court hearings.

It is an attack on due process, plain and simple. It is an attack on the idea that we all deserve a fair shot in this country. It is also a clear tactic to instill fear in all of us so that we will be intimidated into submission and stop standing up for our neighbors.

ICE agents without visible ID, without any official markings on them, and with masks are acting more like vigilantes than agents of our government.

Mr. Speaker, how can we even trust that these are government officials? It is nothing more than kidnapping, and it needs to stop. There should be no more secret arrests and no more plainclothes agents waiting outside of courtrooms. This kind of thing does not happen in democracy. It doesn't.

The only way to protect Americans from these abuses is to provide due process to anyone facing deportation. Due process exists to protect American citizens and to protect all of us from wrongful deportation and wrongful detention.

This administration does not seem to care about this complete and total violation of our constitutional rights, a right that we are all entitled to, regardless of status.

Under Trump, ICE and DHS have become a means to carry out political arrests and to silence anyone that disagrees with their extreme agenda. That is what we are looking at right now. It has never been about removing the criminals. It has always been about creating mass fear and mass intimidation so they can retain more power.

This is not what Americans want. I need my Republican colleagues to fight for everyone in their district. I need them to speak up.

Mr. Speaker, where is your line?

Mr. Speaker, I stand here today in support of labor leader David Huerta. The head of the SEIU California union was arrested in Los Angeles while exercising his First Amendment rights to speech and assembly, rights that are guaranteed to all of us in the Constitution. That is what separates us from autocratic regimes around the world.

The Trump administration is now going after judges, Members of Congress, political opponents, students, law firms, reporters, Governors, and now the leader of a powerful labor union.

This is about abusing power to silence dissent. This is about generating fear to turn us against each other so that we don't pay attention to this lawbreaking administration.

David Huerta said this after being arrested: ``What happened to me is not about me. This is about something much bigger. This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that is happening. Hardworking people and members of our family and community are being treated like criminals. We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice.''

Mr. Speaker, Defense Secretary Hegseth should be one of the busiest people on the planet, defending our country and leading nearly 3 million courageous Americans in our Armed Forces. It is an awesome responsibility.

This week, Pete Hegseth spent his precious time deciding that a naval ship named after a veteran is just too gay for him.

Harvey Milk was an American hero, a civil rights leader, and the first openly gay official in California. He served his country in the Navy. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was someone who stood up for the rights and dignity of all, and he was assassinated while serving in public office. His memory is worthy of dignity and respect.

Removing his name from a ship is small and it is petty. It is obviously an attempt to erase the history of anyone who shows resistance to this administration. That is what autocrats and authoritarians do.

Since Secretary Hegseth took the helm, the Department of Defense has been fraught with national security risks and constant drama. I urge him to stop spending his time renaming ships because he wants to pretend that we don't exist. He should do his damn job.

Mr. Speaker, it is hard not to feel like this administration is trying to kill us.

The Republican budget slashes billions of dollars from Medicaid and food assistance programs. Millions will lose their health insurance and will be hungrier and sicker.

It gets worse. In his 2026 budget, Trump has called for a 40 percent cut to the National Institutes of Health. He wants a 44 percent cut to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and he is urging Republicans to cut billions of dollars from the National Cancer Institute.

For over 50 years, every major medical breakthrough that has happened in the treatment of cancer has been linked to our Federal investments. Americans are not demanding that we cut money to fund cancer research, Mr. Speaker, I promise you that. They are not calling for these cuts.

Of course, as the irrepressibly cheerful Joni Ernst reminded Americans last week, that is okay because we all are going to die. I just don't think Americans thought the Trump administration would be actively trying to speed up our deaths, but here we are.

Mr. Speaker, ask yourself why. Why are we here at 3 a.m. fast-tracking this bill? This bill is nothing to be proud of. It is best to pass it in the night when most folks are asleep.

What kind of a nation are we when leaders choose to take food away from children? What kind of a nation are we when they choose to take healthcare away from people? What kind of a nation are we when they choose to add trillions of dollars to the deficit and pass those financial handcuffs on to our grandchildren? What kind of a nation are we when they choose to make those deficits, that it will force $500 billion in cuts to Medicare?

What has happened this week is shocking. It is unconscionable. It is not leadership. It is moral failure, kicking the poor in the teeth while rewarding the richest among us.

Mr. Speaker, Americans deserve so much better than this, so much better. I urge my colleagues to reject this cruel, cynical bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Schrier, and I am happy to be here.

Just this morning, President Trump said that the Republicans aren't cutting anything meaningful in their budget. What a thing to say. What a shocking thing to say when these cuts will hurt so many Americans. I am having a really hard time understanding how taking away healthcare from nearly 14 million Americans isn't meaningful.

It is not meaningful that rural hospitals across Vermont and across this country are going to be at risk of closing?

Just today I met with Vermonters from a little town called Coventry, and they are deeply concerned that they are going to lose access to labor and delivery healthcare at their local hospital.

Republicans are so out of touch with the reality of American families right now, and it is shocking to call these cuts not meaningful when their bill will hurt working families.

It takes away food and healthcare from millions and millions of people, their own voters, but yet they are not meaningful cuts.

These cuts are certainly meaningful for all the kids and veterans who will go hungry because of this cruel and what I think is a very cynical bill.

Why are my Republican colleagues making the cuts?

That is what we all want to know.

It is to give the very wealthy another big tax cut and deliver tax breaks to billionaires and corporations, people who absolutely don't need any more assistance.

It is taking that money from people who desperately need help and giving away to the people who don't.

People who are just struggling to get by are having precious resources taken away from them.

Right now, across this country, Americans are trying to figure out the math. Are they going to be able to afford groceries for their kids? They are trying to decide whether they can afford to go to the doctor.

While that is happening, in real time, my colleagues are spending time demanding more work requirements for Medicaid recipients when we know that almost half of adults on Medicaid are already working. They act like they are not working. They are working, and 27 percent of those working-age adults on Medicaid are disabled. They are doing the best they can here.

It couldn't be more obvious that they are just looking to remove more people from the Medicaid rolls in order to have more money to give tax breaks to billionaires and corporations. It is sick.

These are real people who we are talking about tonight in every congressional district who cannot handle these cuts. It is as simple as that.

The reality is that Americans can't pay for their rent right now. They can't pay for their groceries. They are too high. Prescription drug prices are too high. Costs for consumers and small businesses are just going to go up because of the asinine tariff regime that we have been dealt.

Of course, Americans feel like it is rigged against them because it is. That is why we have to be here fighting for them. That is why we have to be here, raising the alarm about what is happening in this bill with Medicaid.

What Americans want is fairness. What they need is fairness. We owe them that. They want and need affordable healthcare, and we owe them that. They want and need a fair shot, a better life for their kids, and we owe them that.

This bill that cuts Medicaid is a statement of values. It shows exactly what and who the Republicans are caring about. It is not you and your family. It is not me and mine. It is about propping up billionaires and kicking the rest of us in the teeth while they do it.

What kind of leaders take away healthcare and food from working people so that the wealthy can get even more money? What kind of leaders? Not strong leaders, not leaders of conscience.

It is shameful.

Mr. Speaker, I was a history teacher, and I know that we have to be documenting this moment. When we look back, I don't want anyone to say that we didn't know what was happening.

Trump adviser Stephen Miller and perhaps the most joyless man in America recently said that Trump is actively looking at suspending the writ of habeas corpus.

I am sorry. What? What?

Habeas corpus is the right we all have to challenge in court if we are detained and locked up. Without it, it means that any of us can be locked up with no cause. It can only be suspended by Congress, by us.

Americans, please hear me: Who are we? Who are we if we let Trump abandon our core principle that no one in this country will be imprisoned unlawfully? This is about liberty, and there is nothing more important than our liberty.

Mr. Speaker, I am a history teacher so I know that we have to do everything we can to document what is happening right now because we are at a very dangerous moment, and it requires courage from every single one of us.

Here is the truth of it: This national nightmare started with a series of lies, the first one being that Barack Obama was not born in this country. Then the second one, the ridiculous, easily disproved claim was that the 2017 inauguration broke records that no one had ever seen before. Then there was the lie about the weather map and the Sharpie, and then so many other lies building up to that one big lie that you all have heard about the 2020 election. It was an obvious lie, and yet he lost over and over and over in court and continued to lie. There was no evidence, but it didn't matter.

Why didn't it matter? It didn't matter because it wasn't about the evidence. It was actually a test.

It was a test to signal your willingness to be loyal. If you promise to spread our lies, you can be on the team. It was a qualification for being able to work on that team. Slowly, like the rot in the foundation of an old farmhouse, it continues to let the decay set in.

Madam Speaker, it has been 5 days since President Trump, when asked if he had to uphold the Constitution, told a reporter: ``I don't know.''

Madam Speaker, it has been 5 days of silence from my Republican colleagues. I keep waiting to see if a single Republican will speak up about this and denounce this horrifying remark.

My Republican colleagues: What has happened to you? You know that, if Obama or Clinton or Biden had said such an outrageous thing, you would be tripping over yourselves to get in front of the cameras. Yet, now, in this moment, you say nothing and you do nothing.

I was at the inauguration. I saw all of you. We sat together and watched the President swear his oath of office to uphold the Constitution.

I am pleading with you to speak up. Your fear is keeping you so small, and it is to the detriment of our country and our constitutional democracy.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present on April 29, 2025. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 109, and NAY on Roll Call No. 110.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the Republican budget.

Let's lay out where we are. Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House, and they could be passing legislation right now to actually lower costs for families on groceries, prescription drugs, and housing.

Instead, they are attacking the very programs that working people and middle-class people across this country rely on. They have proposed a budget that gives massive tax cuts to the wealthiest and the corporations.

How will they pay for it? They will pay for it by making cuts to Medicaid to the tune of $880 billion and deep cuts to SNAP benefits, food assistance to families. On top of that, they will add to the deficit.

When I vote against this Republican budget, I will be thinking about all of the working families back in Vermont, thinking of the families who aren't going to be able to drop their kids off at a Head Start program, and thinking about the small businesses who tell me that the Trump on-again, off-again global tariffs are crushing them.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this reckless budget.