Concurrent Resolution On The Budget For Fiscal Year 2027
Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chair, as you may recall, 2 years ago, in the election that my good friend the chair referenced, Donald Trump won a whopping landslide of 1\1/2\ points, one of the closest national…
Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chair, as you may recall, 2 years ago, in the election that my good friend the chair referenced, Donald Trump won a whopping landslide of 1\1/2\ points, one of the closest national popular votes in American history, for those keeping score. During that election, he campaigned in my State, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, more than any other in the country. The promise he most often recited at every rally was, and these were his exact words: I will lower your costs on day one.
Mr. Chair, what an abject failure. This Presidency, and the rubberstamp Republicans who enable him, have pushed through an agenda that hasn't lowered costs for the American people. It has only made things far more expensive.
He started over a year ago with the Trump tariff taxes, a tax on most imported goods. On average, this has raised costs by about $1,800 a year for the American family. He then doubled down on that last summer, in July of last year, when the rubberstamp Republicans passed, and the President signed what he used to call the big, beautiful bill, which has become the big, ugly law for the American people. That bill makes healthcare more expensive for the American people while cutting off their food assistance at a time that food prices are through the roof.
Now, here we are, after all of that. We have the Republican reconciliation 3.0. I think that both parties would agree--in fact, the two Presidential nominees 2 years ago happened to, in a rare point of agreement, but they happened to agree that the number one issue on people's minds by far was the affordability crisis, that America had become too expensive.
Isn't it interesting that despite the fact that polls continue to show by an overwhelming majority that is the biggest issue that voters care about, we have in front of us the Republican reconciliation 3.0, 47 pages, 6,560 words, not one word about affordability, not one word about how to bring down costs for the American people.
They are not even trying. We have a President who just doesn't care about the average American family and the affordability crisis. Don't take my word for it. Take the President's own words. ``I don't think about Americans' financial situation.''
This bill reflects that fact. We have in this bill almost $100 billion in new deficit spending. Yes, that is right. The same crowd that loves to cry crocodile tears about deficit and debt whenever there is a President in the White House who is a Democrat, cumulatively now they have added $5 trillion to our national debt, more than any other 18-month period in the history of Congress. They are about to add $100 billion more.
Most of that spending is for President Trump's Iran war, a reckless decision with absolutely no plan on how to achieve victory and how it would end.
The American people paid the price for President Trump's war in terms of dollars and cents. Just look at gas prices. The day before the war was launched, the national average for a gallon of gas was $2.98. Today, it is over $4 a gallon and climbing.
Here, we have another reconciliation bill in front of us--nothing in there whatsoever to bring down costs, nothing to lower gas prices, nothing to lower food prices, nothing to lower the cost of consumer goods, just more spending on the most unpopular war in American history.
That might sound like an exaggeration, a Trumpian exaggeration. No, it is a fact. Going back to the beginning of polling almost a century ago, there is no other war in American history in which the American people, by a more than 2-to-1 margin, disapprove over approve. Only 30 percent of the American people approve of what the President is doing in Iran.
It is no wonder. They are paying the cost. Of course, as expensive as it is for the American family, that doesn't measure up to the ultimate cost: those lives that we have lost already in this war.
Mr. Chair, it is quite clear from the President's own words and the written text of this bill that this President and the Republican majority have no plan whatsoever on how to bring costs down for the American people. What is worse, they are not even trying.
Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett), a member of the Budget Committee.
Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), the distinguished Democratic leader of the House.
Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott), who is the distinguished ranking member of the Education and Workforce Committee. He is also a member of the Budget Committee.
Mr. Chair, it is interesting. We have been having this debate for a little while now. I haven't heard one word from the other side about how their resolution is going to lower costs for the American people. They haven't said one word, which is very consistent with the resolution that they are pushing. Because their resolution also doesn't say one word or have one idea or one plan on how we can bring down costs for the American people.
Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.
Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Escobar), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee
Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This has been a remarkable debate. It seems the other side wants to talk about pretty much any other issue than affordability. They want to talk about Ukraine, which I heard cited.
Let me just correct what the chair said a few minutes ago. This is not the Democrats' war in Ukraine. It is Mr. Putin's war in Ukraine because he launched a brutal, unprovoked invasion on the people of Ukraine. The reason why the United States and our NATO allies have stood together in financially supporting freedom in Ukraine is because it is not just about Ukraine. It is about whether we will have peace in Europe or whether we will repeat the mistakes that got us into World War II.
That used to be a bipartisan consensus, by the way, in this country for the last 80 years until this recent President.
We also then heard an absurd charge that somehow the folks on the other side have brought down the deficit and debt. They even cited the CBO. That is funny because they have tended to ignore the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office when the CBO pointed out their bill last year, their big reconciliation 1.0, according to the CBO, added $4.7 trillion to our national debt, the biggest debt buster bill in American history.
We can talk about all of these ancillary issues, or we can talk about what is the number one issue on people's minds, which is that things are too damn expensive. They want costs to come down. Instead, under this Republican Congress, costs are only going through the roof.
Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Omar), a very distinguished member of the Budget Committee.
Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.
Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, our majority leader actually just referenced something in which I can report to the House I have personal experience. Having ordered the bottomless pit of pasta at Olive Garden, I can confirm, no, you do not need an ID. What an absurd claim.
This is what we have heard throughout this entire debate. Republicans talk about Olive Garden. They talk about IDs. They talk about Biden. They talk about Ukraine. They talk about anything and everything to distract from this core fact: They have absolutely no plan or agenda whatsoever
to bring down costs for the American people.
According to the Joint Economic Committee, Trump's inflation all told--the combination of his tariff taxes, the combination of all of the laws that they passed for the last 1\1/2\ years, the combination of increased gas prices because of this reckless war in Iran--all told, the average American family has paid out of pocket $3,100 more for goods and services as a result of the Trump Republican inflation.
So I can understand why, with that abysmal record, Republicans wish to talk about anything except for the number one issue on the minds of the American people.
Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. McGarvey), a distinguished member of the Committee on the Budget.
Mr. Chairman, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.
Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Amo), a very distinguished member of the Budget Committee.
Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I will correct the Record.
Moments ago, the distinguished chairman of the Budget Committee referenced a letter from CBO on June 24, which he alleges, according to him, cited that the only people who lost their Medicaid coverage because of the bill they passed last summer were illegals.
That is not at all what the letter says. I have it here in front of me, and I will be happy to submit it to the Record at the end of this debate.
Mr. Chairman, it is quite clear, however, that what CBO has found is that the bill they passed last summer, reconciliation 1.0, will kick more than 15 million Americans off of their healthcare coverage. Already, 8 million have lost their healthcare coverage with at least another 7 million to go.
This is a healthcare crisis in this country. It was entirely created by the other side.
Mr. Chairman, I thank all of the speakers who we have heard from in this debate for their comments.
Mr. Chair, the choice could not be more clear. The American people asked us to lower their costs. Instead, this Republican majority has delivered higher prices, less healthcare, more debt, and now tens of billions of dollars for a reckless and unnecessary war.
This reconciliation effort does nothing to lower the cost of groceries or the cost of housing, healthcare, energy, or gas. Not one provision provides meaningful relief to working families. They don't even attempt to do so. There is not one word on any of the things I just cited.
What it does do, however, is add nearly $100 billion to the deficit, make new voting restrictions, and hand President Trump another massive check to continue a war that is driving up prices here at home and exacting a devastating human toll.
Sadly, three American servicemembers lost their lives this past weekend, bringing the total number killed in this conflict to 18. We mourn them. I think I can speak for the entire House when I say this. We mourn them. We honor their service and sacrifice, and we keep their families and loved ones in our thoughts.
Yet, the best way to honor their memory and to protect the brave men and women who are still serving our country is not to continue sending them into harm's way without a coherent strategy, a clear objective, and an achievable endgame. It is to end this war that President Trump has so badly botched.
Democrats stand ready to work with anyone serious about lowering costs and improving the lives of the American people. This resolution does neither. We have a gentleman in the White House who campaigned on the slogan: America First.
Does the Chair remember that? Their bill in front of us is America last.
Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no,'' and I yield back the balance of my time.