Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in opposition to a provision tucked away in the Republican's budget proposal that will open up the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to toxic sulfide-ore copper mining.

My husband and I take our kids camping and paddling in the Boundary Waters every year, and we are not alone. The Boundary Waters is the most visited wilderness area in the country. There is literally no other place like it on Earth. It is a major driver of the nearly $13.5 billion outdoor recreation economy in Minnesota.

All that is at risk if sulfide-ore copper mining is allowed in the watershed of the Boundary Waters. It is known as the most toxic industry in America, and it has never been done in Minnesota before.

The Republican majority is prioritizing the interests of an international Chilean mining conglomerate that has no interest or stake in the economy or well-being of Minnesotans.

They will extract our resources. They will pollute our air, land, and water. They will permanently damage our pristine Boundary Waters and leave Minnesotans to foot the bill for the cleanup.

Mr. Speaker, we should protect Minnesota's crown jewel and not destroy it.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise on behalf of Minnesota families who will lose access to healthcare if the Republican budget passes. I want to tell you about Alicia and her daughter, one of them.

Alicia's oldest daughter is 11 years old. She is a happy, active, and confident fifth grader. She has also faced a lifetime of medical challenges including an immune disorder, a blood disorder, and a spinal condition.

Alicia and her family didn't ask for this. Nothing they did caused this. They work hard. They pay their taxes. They love their daughter fiercely. They simply cannot afford the care that she needs without Medicaid.

Medicaid is what allows Alicia's daughter to go to school, to regain her motor skills, and to run a 5K with her classmates, something unthinkable before her treatment. It is the reason she is not just surviving but she is thriving.

Republicans are going to gut the program that she and half of all American children get their healthcare coverage through. This isn't about politics. It is about our values. It is about protecting the health and future of our children. We must protect Medicaid. Our kids are watching, and they are counting on us.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Schrier for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today alongside my colleagues in the Democratic Doctors Caucus and as the first and only pro-choice OB/GYN here in Congress to speak out against the Republicans' disastrous budget proposal and to fight for our women, children, and families.

For more than 20 years, I have had the honor and privilege of taking care of OB/GYN. One of the great joys of my job is caring for my patients during their pregnancies and helping them grow their families. I carry my patients and their stories with me, and they inform my work here in Congress.

I think about them and all of the challenges that new parents face during pregnancy and then after they head home with their new baby: recovering from the delivery, adjusting to life with a little one, accessing the care they and their family need, balancing caregiving and work, making ends meet, and the cost of raising children in the United States. It is a lot.

I think about all of the babies I have delivered whose moms got their healthcare through Medicaid and how critical that was to help them get off to the best possible start.

It is because of those patients and patients all across the country that I stand here today both incredulous and outraged that the Republican majority in Congress is shoving a budget through that will gut Medicaid, the very health insurance program that covers 40 percent of all births and insures almost half of all children in our country. As an OB/GYN, as a mother, as a Member of Congress, and as an American, this is unconscionable to me. We already have a maternal health crisis in our country.

Let's look at the facts about that maternal healthcare crisis that we face now and remember that this is before we gut Medicaid. In more than half of our country, women do not have a place to go to get obstetric care. Among our peer nations, the United States has the highest rate of both maternal and infant deaths.

In 2022, there were more than double and sometimes triple the rate of maternal deaths in the United States compared to most other high-income countries, and unacceptable disparities exist. Black, American-Indian, and Alaska-Native women are three to four times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause compared to White women. Most of these deaths, more than 80 percent, are preventable.

What is the Republican majority doing to address this unacceptable crisis? Instead of working to find ways to improve women's health and to help moms and babies, they are shoving a budget through that will devastate our Nation's maternal healthcare and decimate many of our hospitals and clinics. It will unequivocally make our Nation's maternal health crisis worse.

Why in the world are they doing this? Why are they choosing to harm women and children? They are doing it to pay for tax cuts for the ultrawealthiest among us. That is literally why. To make the math work to cut taxes for billionaires, they are choosing to sell out the health of women, moms, new babies, and the future of our country to pay for tax cuts for billionaires, choosing to take healthcare away from moms and their babies.

Let's be clear. This won't just be devastating to the moms and new babies who get their healthcare coverage through Medicaid. It will be devastating for maternal healthcare across the country. All of this is coming from the party that calls itself pro-life and profamily. It is hard to imagine a more antifamily policy.

Instead of wasting time musing around ridiculous ways to persuade women to have more children, like giving medals for having six or more babies, I would remind my Republican colleagues that they could start with something real, meaningful, and impactful right now by not gutting the health insurance program that covers almost half of all births and half of all children in our country. The Republican majority needs to make their profamily rhetoric match their policy, put America's moms and babies first, and stop these proposed cuts to Medicaid.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor Sue Abderholden for her decades of tireless service and steadfast commitment to Minnesotans living with disabilities and mental illnesses.

For the past 24 years, Ms. Abderholden has served as Executive Director of the Minnesota chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Under her leadership, our state has become more compassionate, more informed, and more responsive to the needs of those facing mental health challenges.

She played a central role in passing over two dozen laws that expanded access to care and improved how we support people with mental illnesses.

Ms. Abderholden's advocacy brought mental health training into our schools, ensured screenings for individuals entering the justice system, and reformed civil commitment laws to emphasize voluntary treatment.

She expanded crisis and early intervention services, championed a more diverse mental health workforce, and worked to strengthen housing and community-based support services.

Her compassion extended to her home where Ms. Abderholden and her family fostered children with disabilities and youth aging out of foster care, offering stability and care when it was most needed.

On behalf of myself and countless Minnesotans, I offer my gratitude to Ms. Abderholden for her decades of hard work and service.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise on behalf of the 800,000 children who will lose access to early childhood care, healthcare, and education because of the Trump administration's budget.

Their budget proposes to eliminate Head Start, the nationwide program that provides essential care to nearly 1

million children across our country. Meanwhile, the White House is assessing ways to ``persuade women to have more children.''

I am an OB/GYN. It has been my life's work to help women have children. Let me tell you, eliminating early childhood care and education, making our Nation's childcare crisis even worse and taking away parents' ability to go to work and provide for their families, is not how you persuade women to have more children.

On top of that, gutting Medicaid, the health insurance program that covers half of all children and 40 percent of all births, is not how you persuade women to have more children.

It is hard to imagine a more antifamily agenda. The Republican plan pressures women to have more children then abandons them, gutting the healthcare, education, and support they need to be healthy and to thrive.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Paige Bueckers for her accomplishments in women's basketball and for leading the University of Connecticut women's basketball team to victory in the NCAA championship.

Paige Bueckers graduated from Hopkins High School in 2020. From an early age, she was known across Minnesota for her stellar basketball skills and her outstanding character.

Paige's excellence led her to the University of Connecticut where she was a dominant force in NCAA Division I basketball. Over her career, she amassed many prestigious awards including the ESPY's Best Female College Athlete and was selected as a first team All-American three times.

Winning the NCAA championship with UConn is a testament to her talent, resilience, and leadership on and off the court. Paige's teammates and coaches have praised her for her mentality of putting her team first and for her dedication to their sport.

Paige serves as an inspiration and role model for athletes across the country. Along with the entire State of Minnesota, I am incredibly proud of her and her accomplishments. We will cheer her on as she enters the 2025 WNBA draft, and we can't wait to see what is next for the remarkable Paige Bueckers.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize several constituents in Minnesota's Third Congressional District. Their dedication to promoting democracy is to be commended. I recognize Sharon Billings, Caitlin Cahill, Keith Engel, Aditi Ginuga, Anne Leland, Cathy Olson, Dave Olson, Paula Ramaley, Cole Roepke, Adaline Shinkle, Brad Shinkle, Diane Sjolander, and Anita Smithson.

The people of Minnesota's Third Congressional District are fortunate to have them as neighbors, friends, and community members.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise with a letter. This is a letter from Republican State legislators from my home State of Minnesota, addressed to President Trump and Republicans in Congress. Please listen carefully.

Dear Mr. President, Congressman Emmer, Congressman Finstad,

Congresswoman Fischbach, Congressman Stauber, and Ms.

Carlton, Minnesota has been a leader in providing access to

care and containing costs and now stands vulnerable to

unworkable funding reductions with some of what is being

proposed in the Federal budget.

A move to a per capita cap or block grant program will be

workable if the reduction is modest, manageable, and

accompanied by extreme flexibility. Too deep of a cut is

unmanageable in any instance.

Innovation is occurring in Minnesota within the current

financing and waiver structure. We are moving people with

disabilities into greater independence. Massive Medicaid

reductions could punish Minnesota for being such a strong

leader in greater efficiencies and better outcomes. It would

devastate the already lean areas of service we have been

working to make more efficient for many years

As Republican leaders in Minnesota, we have been partners

for designing a State Health and Human Services system that

meets the needs of our great State.

Just to emphasize what you already know, Medicaid includes

services and care for the seniors and those with

disabilities, not just healthcare for the poor. Additionally,

nearly 50 percent of all Medicaid enrollees are children.

Given some of the large numbers coming out of Washington,

we are concerned that there is no practical way to

accommodate some of the proposed massive reductions and still

provide the kind of care these vulnerable people require.

Drastic reductions to Medicaid funding have the potential

to impact the 1.4 million people we serve and place

incredible pressure on our overall State budget.

There are no other sources to make up the lost Federal

share beyond severely impacting the seniors and those with

disabilities who we serve.

This is contrary to how we Republicans respect the aged and

the vulnerable.

Deep reductions beyond what we can absorb will also put a

major strain on the State's ability to support our county-

based infrastructure. In our county-based service model, via

the property tax, counties already pay very significant

shares of human services costs, including child protection,

waiver management, chemical dependency, mental health, and

State facility stays, and have little capacity to absorb any

significant additional cost.

The only choices available are being forced to raise local

property taxes drastically or close services.

Finally, healthcare is a major employer in rural Minnesota.

Reductions in already-too-low reimbursement rates would not

only limit access but would also reduce pay and services,

hugely impacting rural economies and the rapidly growing

aging population in greater Minnesota.

Please remind our good leaders in Washington that simply

cutting the budget is not going to take away our

responsibilities to the aged, those with disabilities and

mental health needs, children, and the poor.

You can make a difference in this debate.

Please, please do.

Respectfully.

The letter was signed by more than one dozen Republican State legislators.

Mr. Speaker, this is from Republican legislators to the Republican President and the Republican majority in Congress. Their plea is clear. The threat is real. The facts are undeniable. Republicans in State legislatures do not want to gut Medicaid. Minnesotans do not want to gut Medicaid. Americans do not want to gut Medicaid.

So why in the world are congressional Republicans teeing up these massive cuts to Medicaid in their budget?

It is because they are singularly focused on giving massive tax breaks to their wealthy donors, to billionaires like Elon Musk, and to huge corporations. They are willing to do that by selling out healthcare coverage for 80 million Americans.

That is it. It is really that simple.

I say to my Republican colleagues that you cannot hide from your own party raising the alarm not to do this. You cannot hide from the fact that you are choosing to rip healthcare away from millions of Americans. You cannot hide from the fact that you are choosing to decimate State budgets in order to serve your donors and your billionaire elites. You cannot hide from the fact that your State counterparts and surely your constituents do not want you to do this.

As we consider the budget this week, we need House Republicans in the House of Representatives to finally stand with Democrats against this disastrous budget.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise on behalf of all of the families who are being hurt by this administration's reckless trade wars.

Last week, I met with Minnesota families and childcare providers to talk about how expensive it is to raise a family and care for young children. I met Nana Renee. She is a mother and a grandmother from Brooklyn Park who loves her family more than anything in the world. She, like so many families, is struggling to make ends meet.

As a country, we should be doing everything we can to support our young families and make raising kids more affordable. These policies are doing the exact opposite.

With this administration's sweeping tariffs, families will be forced to pay even more for the products they need to care for their children such as high chairs, cribs, strollers, and car seats. Car seats are not an optional purchase. They are required by law.

That is why today my Democratic colleagues and I are calling on the administration to exempt essential childcare products from these tariffs. I challenge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to stand up for families and join us in this call. Families should not have to foot the bill for these reckless trade wars.

Mr. Speaker, I did not vote on Roll Call No. 77. Had I been present, I would have voted ``NAY'' on Roll Call No. 77.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to voice a concern from my constituents, Jeff and Bev.

Last week, Trump's billionaire Commerce Secretary was speaking with another billionaire about how only fraudsters would complain about missing a Social Security check. Trump's billionaire Commerce Secretary said that if Social Security didn't send out checks for a month, his mother-in-law simply would not call to complain.

At the very same time, I held a townhall with my constituents where Jeff and Bev, from Bloomington, asked this question: If or when Trump ends Social Security, Bev and I will be unable to pay our mortgage. We will become homeless at age 70. What can we do? What should we do?

There are tens of millions of Americans across the country like Jeff and Bev who depend on that check coming every month. On their behalf, I ask my Republican colleagues who have majority rule of this Chamber, what are they going to do to stand up for American families and stop the billionaires who are dismantling Social Security?

Mr. Speaker, as we recognize Women's History Month, I rise, as an OB/GYN, in fierce defense of our Nation's moms and babies.

Right now, the Republican majority in Congress is launching a full attack on America's families.

Let's start first with where we are in our country. We are facing a serious and worsening maternal healthcare crisis.

Just look at this map. In more than half of our country, women do not have a place to go that provides obstetric care. Among peer nations, we have both the highest rate of maternal deaths and the highest rate of infant deaths--in the United States of America.

This is a crisis. It is an unacceptable crisis, and it demands immediate action from our Nation's legislators.

Yet, the Republican majority is shoving a budget through that would gut Medicaid, which is the single largest payer of maternity care in our country, in order to give tax cuts to billionaires.

As an OB/GYN who has spent my life caring for women and delivering babies, let me tell you: It is unconscionable to threaten the care women receive before, during, and after pregnancy, but that is exactly what the Republican majority is doing with their budget.

Republicans are choosing to shut down more hospitals and clinics across the country. Republicans are choosing to make even more of our country into maternal care deserts. Republicans are choosing to take healthcare away from moms and babies.

It does not have to be this way. As we celebrate Women's History Month, I implore the Republican majority to make their policy match their profamily rhetoric and choose to put America's moms and babies first.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to recognize Bob Christianson, a resident of a local nursing home in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Bob is 85 years old. He bravely served our country in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. He, like millions of seniors across the country, gets his nursing home coverage through Medicaid. When I met Bob, he said he would not be here today were it not for Medicaid.

Now, congressional Republicans are proposing to gut Medicaid in order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires, which would mean less access to services, less access to care, and worse quality of life for seniors everywhere.

Bob told me he is fighting this proposed budget with all the effort he can muster, calling his representatives, joining local organizations, and going to protests, all at 85 years old.

It shouldn't be this way. Bob should not have to be spending his days protesting just to get the healthcare and nursing home coverage he needs.

Remember, 62 percent of all nursing home residents in the United States are covered by Medicaid. We cannot put our seniors' care on the chopping block to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.

I implore my Republican colleagues to work with us on a budget that will give our seniors the care they need and deserve.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise, as a doctor of more than 20 years, in opposition to H.J. Res. 61, an egregious and completely unnecessary assault on our public health.

This resolution put forward by congressional Republicans would rip away protections that keep Americans safe from some of the most dangerous and cancer-causing air toxins in the world, such as arsenic and lead.

As an OB/GYN, I am extremely concerned because these toxins are known to cause reproductive harm and birth defects.

Just last night, in this Chamber, President Trump claimed: ``Our goal is to get toxins out of our environment.'' President Trump also highlighted the concerning increase in rates of childhood cancer and claimed: ``Reversing this trend is one of the top priorities.''

Yet, less than 24 hours later, the Republican majority is choosing to increase toxins in our environment, expose more Americans to some of the most dangerous pollutants, and likely increase the rates of cancer.

Let's be clear: This cost-effective rule presents minimal cost to industry in order to protect public health.

What are we doing here? Why are we selling out the health of Americans? The consequences of this would be devastating to our children, moms and new babies, and families across the country. It is completely preventable.

To my Republican colleagues who hold the majority rule in this Chamber,

please, for the sake of the health and well-being of the American people, vote ``no'' on this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise on behalf of the nearly 80 million Americans across the country who get their health insurance through Medicaid.

I rise as a physician who has cared for patients for more than 20 years, and I implore my colleagues to recognize that health insurance is not just a throwaway line item that you can scratch out in a budget. It is the difference between being able to receive the lifesaving healthcare people need or not.

Medicaid is the single largest source of healthcare coverage in the United States. Medicaid covers nearly half of all children, and it is the largest insurer of kids with disabilities. Medicaid is a vital source of prenatal and postpartum care for women, and it covers more than 40 percent of births in our country.

The Republicans' dangerous proposal today is selling out the health and wellness of kids, families, seniors in nursing homes, and people with disabilities.

Why? To make room for tax breaks for millionaires? This is wrong. We cannot stand for this.

We need our colleagues across the aisle to stand up for our children and families.