Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, how bad does it have to get for the GOP in this Chamber to do something?

Unhinged posts threatening war crimes; an illegal war in the Middle East that has killed thousands and thousands of civilians; 13 U.S. soldiers dead; an illegal invasion in Venezuela; illegal killing of civilians in the Caribbean; billions of dollars in grift, including insider trading and oil shorts, shady crypto deals, selling pardons, and his son-in-law making billion-dollar business deals while negotiating a war; and the biggest coverup in American history in the Epstein case, where the President is not only implicated but named as accused.

My question, Mr. Speaker: When is enough enough to impeach, to invoke the 25th Amendment, to stop these wars, to rein in this insanity, and to remove this President now?

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to President Trump's 2027 budget. Let me be clear. This budget is completely and totally morally bankrupt to its core--rotten to its core.

While we debate numbers and line items here in Washington, the reality is being felt at home in our communities. In New Mexico, people are worried about how they are going to put food on the table, a roof over their head, how they are going to keep the lights on, how they are going to make their rent. They are looking to us, the leaders in this body, to do something to help the American people.

Yet, this budget does the exact opposite. It is a betrayal to the American people. It guts fundamental programs that support the working people of this country. At a time when utilities are at an all-time high, this budget eliminates LIHEAP, which is vital to helping low- income families heat and cool their homes, including millions of seniors.

At a time when we have a housing crisis in every community across this country, this bill guts block grants and housing programs that provide affordable housing in our communities.

At a time when millions of Americans can't afford healthcare after the GOP in this body decided to not extend healthcare subsidies, they are proposing to slash $5 billion from the National Institutes of Health. They are proposing to gut and consolidate and eliminate billions of programs from the CDC, from SAMHSA, and from HRSA.

In a time when Americans are struggling with an opioid epidemic and an addiction crisis that is literally claiming lives every week in communities across this country, they are gutting the programs that keep Americans alive.

In a time when New Mexicans are facing one of the most difficult water years we have probably ever seen in the history of our State in modern times, they are threatening to cut funding for water infrastructure.

This is a morally bankrupt budget, and it will bankrupt the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I stand here tonight to reject the moral bankruptcy of this administration, to reject the moral bankruptcy of this body that refuses to act, and to call on all of us to put forward a vision for our people that invest in the working people of this country who wake up every day and go to work in order to put food on the table and care for their families.

Now, people will say we can't afford it. How could we afford to invest in our people? Let me just say this: In New Mexico, we are one of the poorest States in the United States, but we have made the moral choice to invest in our people. We have made the moral choice to become the first in the Nation to guarantee free childcare and early childhood education for every single family. We are the first in the Nation to guarantee free higher education and trade school to every New Mexican.

When the GOP shut down the Federal Government and Donald Trump threatened to gut healthcare and food assistance, New Mexico stood up and acted. We extended healthcare to thousands of New Mexicans and made sure that not a single family would go without food on their table.

We reject the cruelty and moral bankruptcy of politics that says we can't invest in our people, and we reject a budget that would steal from them so that an out-of-control madman in the White House could take the American people's hard-earned taxpayer dollars and buy more bombs.

That is why we are here tonight, because we reject that America.

Mr. Speaker, let me just say this: We are the wealthiest Nation in the world. We can invest in our people. We can lower costs. We can build an economy for every single person. We can value our communities. We can care for our communities. We are here tonight to stand up, to speak out, and to reject the moral bankruptcy of a budget that would bankrupt our people.

Mr. Speaker, as a cosponsor of this War Powers Resolution, this debate is making me sick: the lies and colleagues who are so weak that they won't enforce the Constitution to rein in a President who is clearly out of control.

As we sit here, thousands of civilians are dead; 13 servicemembers have been killed; hundreds have been injured with brain injuries, whose lives will never be the same; millions of people have been displaced; and our American bases have been bombed.

For what? Having been led into an illegal war by a madman who is attacking the Pope, threatening war crimes, implicated in the Epstein files, and who can't explain why we were there or what happens the day after, that is why it is time to end this war, to stand with our troops, and to stand with the American people.

Mr. Speaker, we must pass this resolution and end this war now.

Mr. Speaker, this administration is testing us. They are testing the truth, testing the law, but, most importantly, they are testing our resolve in the Epstein case and whether or not they can continue to lie and commit crimes right in front of our faces.

Yesterday, Pam Bondi was ordered to appear in front of the Oversight and Reform Committee and did not come. Todd Blanche said that he would not release any more files because perhaps they believed that Donald Trump's blanket pardon would excuse them and save their bacon.

So let me be clear: You are breaking the law, and I hope you are getting ready to face contempt.

To the survivors out there who have been through decades of injustice in this case: Know that we are fighting, and while the road to justice may be long, we will not stop until we get it.

Mr. Speaker, I don't even know if I can dignify a response to the things that I have heard here this morning. Perhaps we will do another showerhead resolution or utilities or something like that. But it is very clear that there is a war in the Middle East, runaway inflation, out-of-control costs, a partial government shutdown, and a madman in the White House. What are our colleagues across the aisle calling us here today to do? They are calling us here to gut the Clean Air Act. Mr. Speaker, this is why I rise in opposition today to all three of these bills and in the strongest defense of the Clean Air Act, which is the bipartisan legislation that has protected the health of the American people and our planet for more than a half-century.

It was passed in 1970 with bipartisan support from both Republicans and Democrats. It was born out of necessity when smog choked our cities and our communities suffered from unchecked pollution. It has delivered on a promise to the American people that no matter who you are or where you live, you have a fundamental human right to breathe clean air. There is nothing more basic than that right.

It is a promise that has delivered. It has saved millions of lives, prevented countless illnesses, and improved air quality across the country. As we know, it is under a threat not just in this Chamber but by an administration that has rolled back standards, weakened emissions, undermined the authority of the EPA, and gutted our climate commitments.

Now, at a time, especially in the West when we are facing record drought, record heat, and dangerously low snowpack, what are you all doing with your time on the floor? You are trying to further gut the fundamental program that protects our communities and our planet.

That is why I rise today to oppose these bills. This is not permitting reform. This is gutting our right to breathe clean air. The FENCES Act strips the EPA's authority, the FIRE Act manipulates how air pollution is measured, and the RED Tape Act is perhaps the most alarming of all as it would silence communities and allow Federal projects to move forward without consideration to our public health and to the planet.

Mr. Speaker, let me just say this: The consequences of these bills are not abstract. They are measurable, and they will be measured in lives, in the well-being of our people, and damages to our planet.

The Clean Air Act exists to protect the fundamental right of every American, every human, to breathe clean air. That is why I oppose these bills unequivocally. For the sake of our children, our communities, and our future, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on these bills today.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 72.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material in the Record on the subject of my Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight during Black History Month to raise the alarm on the rewriting of American history that is happening at our national parks, our museums, our monuments, and our public spaces as the Trump administration is attempting to erase the histories, the stories, and the lives of our Black, Native, Chicano, AAPI, and LGBT+ communities.

I rise tonight to talk about what this means for the past, the present, and the future of this country because, as they say, those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it, and this country has come too far to forget.

Mr. Speaker, how we as a nation remember matters, what we remember matters, and who we remember matters because this collective memory is the map on which we build our future. Our Nation's national parks, our monuments, our memorials, our museums, and our public spaces are the places in which those memories are inscribed.

Now, I begin tonight with a simple premise: that the act of remembering is a deeply political and a deeply powerful act. So, too, is the act of erasure, of erasing and removing history. These are not merely acts of omission, but acts of power, acts of dominance, and, yes, even acts of violence.

Erasing is about telling people that their histories and their people do not matter. That your history, your ancestors, and your collective memories of pride, joy, struggle, resilience, and generations that came before do not matter.

This is exactly what this administration is doing. They are trying to take us back to a time where only the stories and lives of the few mattered. It began a year ago, on day one, when the President signed an executive order renaming Denali, the tallest mountain in Alaska and most sacred site to multiple indigenous communities, renamed after a President from Ohio without any consultation to the indigenous people of Alaska.

That same day, the President signed an executive order mandating the elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion offices across the Federal Government, leading to the illegal firing and loss of leadership across Federal and military service.

In March, he signed another executive order called the ``Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History'' order, directing the Smithsonian and the Secretary of the Interior to remove what they called improper partisan ideology from exhibits and materials across the country.

It targeted mentions of slavery, Native American history, Chicano history, AAPI history, LGBTQ+ history, climate change, and other topics which they claimed were divisive, anti-American, and created ``national shame,'' thereby erasing the history of tens of millions of Americans.

Secretarial orders, including those at the Department of the Interior, that have led to the censorship of government websites and the tearing down of signs at multiple monuments, references to the histories of famous leaders removed from websites, national holidays erased, rewriting history and removing us from the American story.

What is this all in service of? It is promoting some singular narrative to undermine the recognition of this Nation's true history and its long history of struggles that have shaped it, from overcoming the loss of land, the killing and displacement of indigenous people, slavery, Jim Crow, internment, and the continued struggle for justice across our communities.

This is our true history as a nation, not something we should be ashamed of, but what has shaped who we are. These actions erase the story of what makes this great Nation beautiful: it is multicultural, multiracial, indigenous, Black, Brown, White, and diversity that makes us who we are.

This erasure delegitimizes the movements and wins we have secured generation after generation, from the struggle for civil rights at Selma and the Edmund Pettus Bridge, slavery at Gettysburg, and westward expansion into Tribal lands that secured Tribal sovereignty.

References to transgender were erased from the signs at Stonewall, where the birth of the modern LGBTQ+ movement began. References to indigenous history were removed in places where people came from, including the battleground at Little Big Horn in Montana. Memories of Black and Native history were erased from Independence Park, Cape Hatteras, and The National Mall.

Remembrance of internment of Japanese Americans was removed from Jamaica Bay in New York City. References to climate change were removed at Fort Sumter in South Carolina and Acadia National Park in Maine. Public institutions and gift shops were banned from carrying books. In America, they were banned.

In addition, the Department of Education is seeking to defund schools, universities, and institutions for teaching the history of the people and students and children who are there.

Mr. Speaker, these are not isolated incidents. This is a wholesale attack on American history, on American democracy, on American progress, and the stories of our people. It is, at its core, about power. As George Orwell noted: ``Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.''

This is not, as this administration claims, about patriotism or telling the American story. It is about controlling knowledge and history itself. Those whose histories, whose stories, and whose people are lifted up, especially as this country is celebrating its 250th birthday.

We are here tonight to say: Not on our watch. We will not let this country slide into an Orwellian or authoritarian state where we cannot even tell our own histories.

We are here to tell the truth, just as history does.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Matsui).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congresswoman for her extraordinary words and for sharing her story with us tonight.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Grijalva).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Scanlon).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Magaziner).

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California.

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

Mr. Speaker, what country is this?

Children are not political pawns or political props. Tonight, 5-year- old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father are back in their home in Minnesota after being abducted and taken to detention in Texas, but this never should have happened.

A 5-year-old taken from his home and detained in violation of his basic human and constitutional rights is part of an ill-conceived and incompetently implemented policy of daily deportation quotas that is not just incompetent but inhumane.

This year, 3,800 children have been abducted across the country and detained. It is shameful and an embarrassment to our country. That is why we must act. It is why I will vote ``no'' and not give a single other penny to DHS. It is why we must impeach Kristi Noem. It is time to act. We will not be complicit.

Mr. Speaker, 16 years ago today, the Supreme Court decided in the Citizens United decision to put our democracy up for sale. I am here today to say, Mr. Speaker, that democracy is not for sale, and it is time to get big money out of politics, to end Citizens United, and to hold this administration, this Congress, and this judiciary accountable. That is because what we have seen is the fundamental erosion of our democratic system, and at the rotten root of it all is the influence of big money in politics. That is because Citizens United opened the door for corporations and billionaires to dump untold sums of money on to our elections anonymously and calling corporations people.

Mr. Speaker, corporations are not people. The American people are whom we represent. It is not the corporations, not the billionaires, not the wealthy donors, and not the individuals who are trying to buy and sell our democracy.

We know that right now corruption and the buying of elections are having a profound influence on what we are seeing in this country. We are watching as a United States President is selling the United States out from under the American people. He is offering pardons for millions of dollars to his friends and letting dangerous individuals back on to the streets. These are individuals who have committed white-collar crimes all for the very cheap sum of giving him a few million dollars or a few billion dollars in his cryptocurrency.

He is selling our secrets and our national security to foreign adversaries by allowing them to deposit sums of money into his cryptocurrency by giving him gifts like multimillion-dollar jets and, yes, even allowing him to potentially launder money in a foreign bank account in Qatar from oil he stole using the American taxpayers' dollars and the U.S. military.

President Trump is showing what happens when you let big money buy politics. In fact, he told Big Oil just last year that if they gave him $1 billion in campaign funds, he would deliver. Well, promises made, promised kept, literally invading a foreign country to take their oil.

Here in this Chamber, just a few days ago, it was discovered that the husband of a member of leadership on the opposite side of the aisle had been trading in stocks, while we are considering a stock trading ban right now in this House. This is corruption in action.

We have a judiciary across the street who is considering undermining the fundamental voting rights of the American people.

After their wealthy donors took them on trips and involved them in this vast scheme over the last several years to fundamentally remake America, the same donors who donated to Donald Trump and who donated to our friends across the aisle are also making money hand over fist on the stock market right now.

This is what comes from Citizens United, and that is why, Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely dedicated to fighting to make sure that we get big money out of politics and that we end Citizens United. When we take back the

House--because, Mr. Speaker, we will take back the House--I guarantee you that on day one, our top priority will be to root this corruption and this rot out of the Federal Government.

It is time to get big money out of politics, and I am here for the fight.

Mr. Speaker, it is beyond time to defund ICE. It is beyond time to stop the violence. It is beyond time to stop the unfettered use of force against our communities and to stop the lawless violation of human and civil rights. It is beyond time, Mr. Speaker, to stop the rot from the top, which has turned this agency into a rogue and lawless force that is terrorizing our communities.

This week, the House will consider funding for DHS and give even more funding to ICE.

Let me be clear, Mr. Speaker: I am not only a no, I am a hell no.

From unleashing violence in Minneapolis to dog whistles from the White House, I have received countless calls from New Mexicans calling for an end to this violence because we cannot and we will not allow ICE to tear our country apart. We refuse to allow this administration to terrorize this country, and that is why I will be damned if we give one more dollar to that rogue organization, Mr. Speaker. That is why I will vote ``no,'' and that is why we must defund ICE.

Mr. Speaker, you know you have lost in 2026 when Republicans in the United States House of Representatives are openly talking about impeaching the President of the United States if he invades Greenland, as one was quoted today in the press.

Let us be clear. Mr. President, Greenland is not for sale. Greenland is not for war. Greenland is not to be invaded. Greenland is for the Greenlandic people and our NATO allies, and we in the House of Representatives stand with our allies.

You have been duly warned, Mr. President. The American people want the Epstein files, not Greenland. If you violate the law and one of our longest standing allyships on the planet, there will be consequences. It is long overdue.

Mr. Speaker, do you recall just a week and a half ago when the President of the United States stood in front of the American people and said that he conducted an unauthorized military invasion of Venezuela to save American lives from drugs, but then a few days later told us it was actually about the oil?

Well, if we needed any confirmation that it was not about the drugs and not about saving American lives, look no further than the fact that last night the White House announced that they would cut millions of dollars from substance abuse and addiction recovery programs that save lives in America every single day.

In Donald Trump's America, down is up and up is down, and they will lie to your face every single day if they think it will get them what they want. That is why we are in the fight to stop unauthorized wars, to stop the daily assault on our communities, and to restore the America that we know and to save American lives.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 16.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today first in thanks to our fearless leader, Representative Hayes, today, but Mr. Speaker, I rise today to sound the alarm on what is happening at the U.S. Department of Education or at least what is left of it.

For millions of students with disabilities, the IDEA, or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, is a landmark civil rights law that guarantees a free and inclusive public education for all students.

However, under the Trump administration, IDEA is under attack, with the administration announcing at the height of the government shutdown in October that it would fire nearly all of the staff responsible for ensuring that students with disabilities have access to resources and support services.

Can you imagine? It is not just reckless, it is not just illegal. It is heartless, and it is disgusting.

Piled onto continuing cuts and threats to other programs of vulnerable families, the President and the GOP have continued to cut healthcare, education, food assistance, housing, and childcare to millions of American families, attacking the very families who need it most while giving billionaires tax breaks on the backs of hardworking Americans. It is shameful.

Mr. Speaker, I want to address the administration's attacks on education and what these actions mean for all students, but especially students with disabilities, their educators, and their families. The Department of Education exists to ensure that every student has access to opportunity, to protect their civil rights, to ensure that every student has a fair shot at success.

However, since day one, this administration has systematically dismantled the department, with budget cuts, cutting programs, delaying grants, and firing staff. Over the course of the last year, my office has heard from hundreds of parents, teachers, and students who are scared about what is happening and wondering what will come next: from teachers and counselors who are stretched thin and uncertain about whether or not resources will be there next year, from schools who don't know if their funding will be cut, and from young people, the very children that these programs serve, who are afraid because this administration is terrorizing the children of this country by attacking education and schools and their families, attacking the most vulnerable families.

I have to say this, Mr. Speaker, there is no demand for this. There is no one out there in the American public who is demanding that we cut programs for students and young people with disabilities because it is cruel, wrong, and illegal. It must stop.

That is why Democrats are standing here tonight: to stand up for our students, to stand up for our young people, to fight back against these attacks, and to take a stand against the dismantling of these vital programs.

Let me just say this: In New Mexico, we understand that our young people are our future. That is why we are the first State in the Nation to pass universal free childcare and education for every single student in our State.

I, for one, as a public school kid, was deeply proud to carry the Federal enabling legislation. It is why I fought for funding to build new schools at To'hajiilee, Sandia Pueblo, and Mescalero Apache. It is why I am carrying legislation to increase teacher pay, to protect BIE in Tribal schools, to create a postsecondary pathway of success for students with disabilities, veterans, and first-generation students. It is why I have supported New Mexico also becoming the first State in the country to guarantee free trade school and free college for every single New Mexican. That is how you should be transforming education, that is how you deliver for communities, and that is how you care for the children that we have been blessed to take care of in our role and prepare the next generation of leaders.

I will say this to Mr. Trump: While he and his colleagues may not believe in the power of public education or civil rights or the need to protect children--because their actions speak as loud as their words-- we do. We believe in investing in education from early childhood education to higher education, and everything in between, and we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to fight back at every turn and honor our commitment to the students of this country. I, for one, and all of us will not stand by and allow this to happen.

Mr. Speaker, the American people want to know why the President of the United States and the Department of Justice are going after the Chairman of the Federal Reserve before they go after coconspirators in the Epstein case.

Mr. Speaker, the American people want to know why Donald Trump is using their taxpayer dollars to invade foreign countries and threaten our allies, but claims to not have enough money to fund American healthcare.

Mr. Speaker, the American people want to know why the President and Vice President are giving cover for lawless shootings by Federal agents while using political excuses to withhold funding for our communities, for public safety, housing, childcare, and food.

Mr. Speaker, the American people didn't ask for this. They asked for safe communities to ensure they can live their lives with dignity and opportunity and to leave a country their children can be proud of.

Mr. Speaker, this is not that. We will continue to fight and hold this President accountable.