Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the so-called CLARITY Act.

Let me be clear: I support the growth of digital assets, blockchain innovation, and the promise that crypto holds for expanding financial access and economic justice, but this bill is not clarity. It is confusion cloaked in legislation. It picks winners and losers, and the biggest winner is the President of the United States.

Why is that office exempt from all of the rules? It undermines the SEC's ability to protect consumers and fast-tracks deregulatory loopholes without addressing core issues like transparency, fraud prevention, or equity and access. The SEC doesn't even like this bill.

We need comprehensive, thoughtful regulation, not rushed frameworks driven by the people who will gain the most who ignore the voices of everyday investors, builders, and communities left behind.

Crypto deserves rules that are smart, fair, and future-facing. The CLARITY Act is none of these things because, if it was, Republicans would have had the votes much earlier.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Virginia for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus is often referred to as the ``conscience of the Congress,'' and Congressman John Lewis was our North Star.

I never had the privilege of serving alongside Congressman Lewis, who is also my fraternity brother, but 5 years after his passing, his faith, his words, his story, and his work inform my work.

I often recall his words: ``It is not about who wins. It is not even about who is right. It is about what is right. That never changes.''

Regardless of if our districts are cobalt blue or ruby red, every single Member of Congress took an oath to do right by our constituents and to fight for policies that not only help them get by but help them get ahead. However, Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues have just enacted the largest transfer of wealth from the working class to the top 1 percent in our Nation's history, cutting essential programs and leaving many Americans poorer, sicker, and hungrier.

Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, they continue to turn a blind eye to our neighbors, friends, and family members who are being torn from our communities by this administration's militarized ICE. No matter who is in power, we should all agree that it is unacceptable for infants to go without formula, for toddlers to attend school on empty bellies, and for children to be handcuffed and separated from their parents.

It is wrong for children battling cancer to lose access to healthcare or to be deported to countries they have never known.

Mr. Speaker, if my colleagues on the other side of the aisle cannot put politics aside to advocate for children, then who are they truly standing up for? I will let you all figure that one out.

America is at a crossroads. Where we go from here as a nation depends on those courageous enough to stand for the most vulnerable among us rather than selling us out to the highest bidder.

Mr. Speaker, as congressional Republicans stare down both paths, I urge them to remember the words of John Lewis, one of the greatest to have ever served: ``It is not about who wins. It is not even about who is right. It is about what is right. That never changes.''

May they find even a fraction of the courage that Congressman Lewis had and do right by their constituents.

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, I rise in fierce opposition to this performative and misleading resolution that reads like a cheap script treatment looking for a second-rate director.

H. Res. 516 is not about public safety. It is about fear, scapegoating immigrants, and gaslighting the American people into believing that Los Angeles is some so-called hellscape. If it is such a hellscape, I want to know why Republican Members of Congress have been flying into Los Angeles over the past few weeks attending fundraisers. Nobody is showing up in a hazmat suit or combat gear.

If it is such a hellscape, pull back the cameras and release the drone footage so we can see what is happening across the entire city.

This resolution ignores the fact that the violence didn't start in a vacuum. It was sparked by the Trump administration's provocative, aggressive immigration raids across the State.

ICE agents were in neighborhoods, grocery stores, and churches. I have never seen a segment on TV about an MS-13 cartel boss in the third grade. That is what we are seeing.

Of course, we came out and protested. That is what democracy looks like. Of course, our communities are terrified across Los Angeles, across the State, and across the country.

Instead of listening to us, the people from L.A., the President escalated this drama, deploying the National Guard and the Marines to Los Angeles without a request from local law enforcement, the Governor, or the mayor.

Why? To launch a pathetic, made-for-TV reality TV show to justify authoritarian crackdowns and to divert from the real violence, the violence of cutting $880 billion from Medicaid, the violence of kicking people off of healthcare, and the violence of tanking our economy into the gold toilet.

That is what we should be talking about. That is what this President doesn't want us to talk about, so he turned the cameras and the manufactured, fabricated violence onto Los Angeles.

Mr. Speaker, this audacity in blaming local leaders is about optics, power, control, and stoking the ego of Republicans and king daddy.

We are tanking the California economy, the fourth-largest economy in the world and the largest donor State. I refuse to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this package. It is embarrassing. It is trifling. This is a funding package that Republicans actually agreed to and voted on last Congress when they were in the majority. Republicans must be missing Biden now because they actually had more influence under him than under Trump.

Now, Republicans are going back on their own agreement and giving up their own power with this package. The real question is, why show up here if you have an orange daddy doing your work for you?

This vote actually puts every Republican on record as supporting Elon's attack on democracy when even Steve Bannon said that Elon and DOGE found no waste.

With this package, Republicans are one step closer to a country that looks more like the adversaries we profess to oppose. Americans will be left to clean up this mess, and we will have zero standing in the international community and zero claim to global leadership while you all have killed off Elmo.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this trash.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Massachusetts for yielding to me.

I rise in strong opposition to this rule and to the divisive, destructive bills that it brings to the floor, especially H.R. 2931, the so-called Save SBA from Sanctuary Cities Act, because, in reality, this bill doesn't save anything.

It continues to eviscerate small businesses in order to benefit the greediest, biggest corporations and their CEOs, who don't even need the Small Business Administration. Do you know who does? Small businesses that just want customers, employees, and the chance that SBA affords them to attain success.

This bill actually punishes small businesses and immigrant communities to score cheap political points, forcing the SBA to close or relocate offices in cities like Los Angeles, my home, simply because we refuse to bend a knee to the President and to MAGA Republicans' anti-immigrant agenda, which is about retaliation, not good governance.

Immigrants start businesses, and do you know what? They hire other immigrants. Do you know who benefits? Everyone because they are paying taxes, hiring our neighbors, delivering a service, and growing our economy.

L.A. is home to over 244,000 businesses. Is the goal for this administration to shut all those businesses down, the red businesses, blue businesses, and independent businesses, because there is a problem with L.A. and because the administration doesn't like immigrants?

They are businesses like Dulan's, a family-owned business in my district that has been open for 30 years. After the L.A. urban fires, they fed victims. They need and deserve SBA, as do the millions of small businesses like them. This bill gives them the finger on top of the chaos of the TACO taxes.

I am urging a ``no'' vote on the rule and the cruel, unnecessary legislation that it brings forward.

This is an alternate reality, this floor, when I am hearing from Republican colleagues who are not talking at all about the millions of Americans who are going to be harmed by these destructive bills.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Moore), the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Rutherford), and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Ivey) be removed as cosponsors of H.R. 3614, the Fairness, Inclusion, Rehabilitation, and Expungement for Firefighters Act.

Mr. Speaker, with this backstabbing billionaire bill, House Republicans are selling their soul and constituents to the highest bidder: Donald Trump.

First, he crashed the economy with his temper taxes, driving up the cost of groceries and down our credit rating with Moody's. Now Trump and Republicans want to steal even more from hardworking Americans to provide tax breaks to those who kiss the Mar-a-Lago ring.

Mr. Speaker, they are stealing your food, healthcare, and security.

My district in Los Angeles has the fourth highest Medicaid enrollment in the entire Nation.

Mr. Speaker, 225,000 of my constituents rely on food assistance to feed their families. Nearly 1 million people in my State live in subsidized housing. My constituents call my office asking me to protect their Medicaid. They don't ask that their lifesaving benefits be taken away and given to the top 1 percent.

Daylight is the best disinfectant, which is why all their dirty deeds with this bill have been happening at night.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to listen to their constituents instead of tasing them at townhalls, and vote against this dangerous bill.

Mr. Speaker, I urge America to keep the receipts on these votes.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Brown) and the Congressional Black Caucus for organizing this Special Order hour.

Tonight, I, along with my colleagues, rise to talk about something that should terrify every freedom-loving American: the coordinated, relentless Republican campaign to erase Black history, erase American history, whitewash the truth, and silence our stories.

Donald Trump called for patriotic education instead of honest education.

This is a dangerous euphemism for censoring Black pain, Black resilience, and Black excellence from the classroom.

Since then, over 1,500 books have been banned in public schools and libraries across this country. More than 40 percent of them feature Black authors or Black characters.

What kinds of books, you ask? I have some for you, books like ``Their Eyes Were Watching God'' by Zora Neale Hurston, like ``Go Tell It on the Mountain'' by James Baldwin, and, oh, my God, even a children's book, ``I Am Rosa Parks.''

Why are Republicans trying to erase a book written for babies to help them learn their history? Why are they so scared of little babies and books that we have all read in school, books that we have all checked out in libraries, books we have all discussed in book clubs, books we have all shared with the little ones in our lives? Why this ban?

When our history is erased, it is easier to erase our progress. Trump and his MAGA allies want our children to grow up ignorant of the truth and of who they are. They are trying to scrub Federal websites. They are scrubbing Federal websites of any mention of Black contributions to science, literature, politics, or innovation.

Let me say the list is long because we have been in this thing for hundreds of years, bringing innovation and progress to this country.

All I have to say to that is, wow, Mr. Speaker, just wow.

Yes, they want to alter the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, a museum that millions have visited from around the globe, including students and families, to learn about our Nation's true story and all because they don't agree with how their ancestors and themselves have been portrayed.

Don't be mad at me because you don't like you. Let me say that again. This President is trying to erase institutions, literally. Mr. Speaker, that is just a weak move. That is a punk, weak move.

The President has said he wants to get rid of every policy, every agency, every grant, and every effort related to DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion. It sounds to me like somebody who is scared of the truth. That means rolling back protections against discrimination, removing mentorship and workforce programs aimed at closing opportunity gaps, and wiping clean any official recognition that America ever wronged Black people in the first place.

Guess what? We ain't going to be that afraid. We are still here. We ain't going nowhere. This isn't just about politics.

While Trump and House Republicans are busy erasing our past, they are also working overtime in the dead of night to erase and destroy our future.

Mr. Speaker, we know this White House is serving the billionaires in this country. But the House, this body, is supposed to directly serve the people. Instead, the majority party has decided to serve Donald Trump, and that is the problem.

How are Speaker Johnson and House Republicans serving the President? I am glad you asked that, Mr. Speaker. Even though you didn't, you know you want to.

This is when I am going to pivot to the so-called big, beautiful bill, or how about the billionaires' backstabbing bill, a nearly 400- page monstrosity. Here it is again in small font, in fine print, and designed with one goal in mind, to enrich billionaires and punish working families, especially Black families.

Let's start with the numbers. There are $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid, a rollback of SNAP and nutrition assistance, which hit the Black and Brown communities the hardest. In 2023, over 25 percent of Black households relied on SNAP benefits, and a whole bunch of other groups relied on SNAP benefits, too.

There is no meaningful investment in housing. While over 40 percent of Black renters are cost-burdened, this bill offers nothing, nada, zip, to ease the affordable housing crisis.

There is a plan to unravel Social Security as we know it, directly harming the nearly 5 million Black Americans who rely on those benefits in retirement.

To top it off, there is a permanent tax break for billionaires like Elon Musk and the President. That's right, while they strip away healthcare and housing, they are cutting taxes for billionaires with private jets and yachts and $400 million planes.

To be clear, less than 15 percent of constituents in every single congressional district, yo, red and blue, less than 15 percent of constituents in every single district support cuts to Medicaid.

Mr. Speaker, I am sure you read this: Moody's just downgraded the U.S. credit outlook. What does that mean? Higher interest rates, more expensive loans, deeper household debt, more expensive money. This hurts families already stretched thin and it disproportionately hurts Black families who already face a median wealth that is just one-tenth that of White families according to a 2022 study.

When this President and MAGA Republicans say they want to help the American family, we have to ask, which American families?

The regular families I represent in south Los Angeles, Culver City, Ladera Heights, and all across the 37th Congressional District in California are not being helped by this bill. They are being targeted.

Just to reiterate, I have 700,000 constituents in my district. Like every other Representative, I have 470,000 constituents that will be kicked off Medicaid if this bill is passed. My constituents are being told they don't deserve to learn their history, they don't deserve access to healthcare, they don't deserve decent housing, and they definitely don't deserve a tax system that is going to treat them fairly.

Mr. Speaker, the American Dream should not be reserved for those with a trust fund or a Mar-a-Lago membership. The American story should include all of us, our ancestors, our struggles, our achievements.

We cannot build a just future on a foundation of lies and fear and erasure.

The real question is why are Republicans so afraid of us? People certainly try to get our hair, our men, our body types, our culture, our food. They want us as friends and validators. Quite frankly, it is exhausting having to navigate all of the insecurities of those trying to erase us.

Democrats here in this Black Caucus are not going to forget but are going to fight against policies that punish the poor and reward the powerful. Democrats are going to fight for a country where Black history is American history and Black futures are American futures.

As the saying goes in our country: If you don't tell your story, someone else will. You best believe they will get it wrong. We are telling our story tonight, and we are telling the real truth.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of my friend and a beloved champion for south Los Angeles, the late Carl Ballton.

I met Carl through my work at Crystal Stairs where he served on the board for over 20 years, including a decade as chair. Under his leadership, Crystal Stairs grew into a respected institution serving thousands of children and families.

Carl cared deeply about social justice and the Los Angeles community. That passion guided his service beyond Crystal Stairs. He led the Union Bank Foundation and served on the boards of the LA Urban League, United Negro College Fund, Habitat for Humanity, and many other organizations.

Carl and his beloved wife, Lula, used their power for good, especially within the Black community.

His passing is a deep loss for us all, but his legacy lives on in the countless lives he has touched and the institutions he helped build.

He will be deeply missed.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today to co-anchor this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour, along with my distinguished colleague from the great State of Ohio, Representative Shontel Brown, who hopefully will be joining us.

Along with some of our other colleagues, she is in her committee hearing, trying to figure out if Republicans

will stand up with the American people and vote down so many of the disastrous proposals that are being brought up in these various committees as it relates to the reconciliation bill.

Mr. Speaker, for the next 60 minutes, members of the CBC have an opportunity to speak directly to the American people and directly to you on the Republicans' disastrous reconciliation package. This is an issue of great importance, of utmost importance, and of perilous importance, not just to the Congressional Black Caucus but to everyone.

Hopefully, Republican Members, not just Democratic Members of Congress, will stand up with and for the American people and vote down some of this nonsense that is going to be coming before all of us in our committees. At the very least, let's not be silent. That is why the Congressional Black Caucus is here tonight.

Mr. Speaker, House Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee just released text. This is the one big, beautiful bill. This is the 386- page manifesto that killed trees and trees.

Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you that there are only two words in that phrase that are accurate. This is a bill, and it is big, but it is not beautiful. It is a backstabbing bill because all the items in the 386 pages of this bill are about how this administration is going to backstab the American people. It is not going to feel good.

Unlike the O'Jays song ``Backstabbers,'' this doesn't have a good melody.

This is about cutting Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and benefits for veterans. This is about killing young people, seniors, and those who are disabled. This is about cutting important critical services for the American people to give tax credits to billionaires. There are a lot of B's in this statement. None of them are very good.

Let me be very clear: Republicans have barely made any attempts to support working families. Instead, they have written an economic love letter to people like Elon Musk. This is a 386-page love letter to Elon Musk.

Republicans can run from the truth all they want--they have been silent--but the truth is in the eyes of this administration: Americans don't need healthcare, but this administration somehow needs a $400 million plane gifted to them from the Saudi Government. Americans don't need SNAP assistance, but this administration and all of his billionaire buddies need millions in tax writeoffs.

Mr. Speaker, how are my constituents supposed to live? How are your constituents supposed to live? How are any of our constituents supposed to pull themselves up by those ridiculous bootstraps that people like to talk about?

This administration and the House majority are actually not just taking away their boots but taking away the leather, the rubber, the soles, and the labor that would be used to even make these boots. We are going to be spending the next hour talking about all of that.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of Maryland (Mr. Ivey), my very good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from the great State of Maryland (Mr. Ivey) for keeping it real and really underscoring the challenges that are in front of us as Americans and for really articulating why courage, backbone, and just basic common sense are so needed right now in these perilous times.

Why are these times perilous?

These times are perilous because in Congress we are in the process of debating and trying to pass this reconciliation bill.

People might be saying: Well, what is it?

It isn't actually a budget. In each of the committees, discussions are had about where to spend and where to cut. This House majority has been given marching orders, and the marching orders are to cut as much as possible and to cut until the American people bleed. The only folks who will be able to afford Band-Aids to prevent them from bleeding to death will be the richest of the rich.

Everyone else, you will have to fend for yourself. In each of these committees in which we sit, on which we sit, we are debating cuts that will hurt this economy, that will hurt constituents, that will hurt American businesses, that will hurt our standing in the world.

This is not a red or blue discussion. This is not even a Black Caucus or other caucus discussion. This is about what is at risk, who is at danger, who is being put at risk by this administration and, quite frankly, by the silence coming from this House majority.

Tonight and later on this week, Ag, Energy and Commerce, and the Ways and Means Committees are meeting, and they have been meeting earlier today, and they are also continuing to meet right now.

The challenge is meeting this late in the evening allows them to do dirty business, allows them to vote on bills and amendments that will hurt the American people without the benefit of having the news being able to report on it before people go to bed. It is almost like these dirty deeds will be happening at night when no one can see or hear what is going on.

Maybe we are spending our time talking about this $400 million bribe that was just given to this administration when we should be talking about all of the cuts that are going to be coming from these committees.

With reconciliation, Republicans want all the cuts, but they do not want the political consequences. That is why we are here tonight talking about what those consequences will be, talking about what is in these reconciliation bills, what is in this package, because we don't want anyone to get political amnesia.

We don't want anyone to forget when they are hurting, when they are trying to pay a bill, when they are trying to get gas, when they are trying to buy eggs, when they are trying to buy a home, when they are looking for a job, when they are trying to bury a loved one, why it is so hard to do any of those things, why the costs are so high.

We are going to continue to remind the American people why all of those costs are going to be so high, and it is because of the cuts that are coming in this reconciliation bill, cuts that Republicans could have stopped, but they have been too silent.

Last week we were here, and we had hearings in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Committee on the Judiciary, Committee on Small Business, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Committee on Natural Resources, in those committees and in others.

I don't know if many of these discussions or outcomes from these committees have made it into the news cycle, so folks don't know what really happened in those committees. I am going to say, in those committees we talked about cutting State Department by close to 50 percent, terminating workers in the State Department, finalizing the shuttering of USAID.

People might say, well, what is USAID? Well, part of what USAID does is contract with American farmers. Farmers have contracts with USAID. USAID buys their product and then uses it. All of those contracts have stopped because Republicans are looking for ways to fill the gap, the big gap, the chasm that has been made by these tax cuts going to billionaires.

They have done so much at the State Department that they have even fired the people who are responsible for purchasing the tickets to bring Americans home from all of their missions around the world. You have Americans who are stuck in countries around the world separated from their families, unable to get home because the ticket agency in the State Department has been shut down.

In the Committee on the Judiciary, we talked about billions of dollars going to ICE for bonuses to buy computers and cars and deporting Americans and allowing January 6ers to be hired to work for the Federal Government, people who came in here trying to bludgeon the Capitol Police and the people who work in this very institution.

In that committee, Republicans voted to allow them to work for the Federal Government and have the authority to go after other Americans.

In the Committee on Natural Resources, they passed a bill that would allow us to sell Federal land, land that we all enjoy, parks, recreational services, and forests.

I want the people in my life, the little people in my world to be able to go and visit a natural reserve or to go to one of our national parks and monuments and see that it is still owned by the United States, that we haven't sold it to some corporation or, God forbid, some other country, someone with the highest bid.

We are selling that land, and the proceeds are going into the coffers because, remember, we have to cover the $4.5 trillion gap that House Republicans made because they want to give tax cuts to the wealthiest of the wealthy.

What else does that mean? It means that Republicans plan to cut $900 billion to Medicaid, kicking 8.7 million people off of Medicaid over the next 10

years. The plan calls for new requirements for beneficiaries, for those who are on Medicaid, work requirements.

Some say: Well, I don't have a problem with people going to work. They are also saying: We want seniors, we want folks who are disabled, we want the elderly, we want those folks to be schlepping down the street trying to find a job in this market, of course, when it is actually hard to find employment.

They have been saying: Well, you can make these cuts because there are not even that many people on Medicaid. There are these people who are 150 years old or 130 years old or they have been dead for 4 years, and they are on Medicaid. Well, the reality is that so many of us have constituents who are dependent on Medicaid and Medicare and Social Security that are going to be devastated because of these cuts.

In California, there are 470,000 people on Medicaid, and they are going to be at risk of losing their care because of what the Republican budget plans to do. This is 140,000 children under the age of 19 and 40,000 seniors over the age of 65 just in my district.

I am going to say it again. My district has the 4th highest Medicaid enrollee numbers in the country. California has 7 of the 10th highest Medicaid enrollee districts. There are poor people, there are struggling people everywhere in every district in every state who need Medicaid, who need Medicare, who need Social Security.

I just have to say: If Republicans are so enamored with this big, beautiful, backstabbing bill and believe it to be the manna from heaven, then they shouldn't be afraid to go into their districts and talk about the cuts, talk about cutting Medicaid.

Look at the person in the wheelchair, look at the person who is dependent on Social Security benefits, look at the veteran who is receiving Social Security, and tell them that they don't matter. Tell them that their benefit is not as important as giving the money to Elon Musk and the billionaires. You tell them that.

If you are not telling them to their face, you are certainly going to be telling them that when you vote for this reconciliation bill.

Let's talk about education. DOGE and Musk, under the authority of this administration, have already fired half of the staff in the Department of Education. I don't know about you, but I have young people in my family who are excited about going to college, and they are also scared because they don't even know if the colleges are going to stay open.

I am not just talking about elite Ivy League institutions. I am talking about community colleges; I am talking about state colleges. I am talking about legacy institutions where parents and grandparents went to, and it means something to be able to get into that school and graduate.

I have talked to young people who don't know if there will be any money for them if they get in, even with the grades. I have talked to young people who are getting ready to graduate and don't know if there will be a job for them. And I have talked to young people who were excited about representing this country and helping us be more competitive and now don't even know if this country is for them.

News flash, all of these young people who I have been talking to are U.S. citizens, American-born, who don't even know if there is going to be a country left, who don't even know if there will be educational institutions left because this proposal includes $330 billion in cuts that will impact Pell grants, Head Start, school lunches, and more.

We are talking about a $1 billion freeze for school-based mental health. I don't know about you, but it seems like every single person in this country should be accessing mental health services right now just to make it through the day.

That is what is coming out of this reconciliation package.

Going back to student loan borrowers who saw a glimmer of hope last year, and now they are going to be tracked down like animals in the night when you have an administration that just accepted a $400 million bribe from another country. The math doesn't math up.

Why are you asking for young people to pay their fair share when it seems like not everyone else is doing the same thing? The regional Head Start office serving my district closed, and Head Start funding at roughly $12 billion annually represents less than .2 percent of total Federal spending.

Eliminating Head Start would cut childcare and supportive services for about 80,000 young children in California.

Then let's talk about ag. This proposal would halt funding for the Rural Energy for America Program. Once again, cutting a billion dollars in funding for programs that help schools and feed folks through food banks. Cutting this funding would threaten the livelihood of our American farmers and also threaten the nutrition of our children.

Let's talk about our veterans. Under this reconciliation package proposal, we are talking about firing 6,000 veterans. My God. My God. People who have served our country in wars, who have stood up for this country and the people in it, who have stood up for our Constitution, who came back from their service and were hired by the government will be fired, have been fired, are being fired.

Not only are we talking about firing 6,000 veterans, but we are also talking about cutting their services, cutting their medical services, forcing longer wait times for them because when they call, when they go to the VA to get help, there will be fewer people there to help them.

I think about the veterans in my district that I talk to, and they don't deserve to be mistreated like that.

My God, they want to come back and enter into society and be part of a thriving business, to help open a business, and they still need access to their medical care. They still need access to their mental health support, and we are going to cut that. In my mind, that is just so unchristian.

Then, we are talking about cutting Health and Human Services so that if we are trying to make sure that folks don't get tuberculosis, that we keep measles at bay, that we keep HIV at bay, well, if you are at risk, you are going to be in greater danger because the proposed cuts would be cutting NIH, the National Institutes of Health; CDC, the Centers for Disease Control; and FDA, the Food and Drug Administration--the people who make sure that the food we eat is safe, is not poisonous, won't kill us, and the people who make sure that we get accurate, nonpartisan, truthful information about the diseases and the ailments that are out here in this world so that we have the information that we need to keep ourselves and our children safe and healthy. We are not going to have access to that.

The research that is being done to help us fight against cancer and to cure so many other diseases that are out there, those research programs are going to be compromised. The clinical trials happening are going to be compromised because we have decided this reconciliation package, which is a statement of values, is going to be deciding that those things are not important. It is not important to eat healthy food. It is not important to have access to medicine. It is not important to research, to find cures for diseases and illnesses that have plagued our grandparents, our parents.

Have you gone to a children's hospital? Have you visited a child who is dying from cancer? Would you go to that child and tell them there is a higher probability that you are going to die because we are cutting the grants that would allow us to find a cure? That is what is in this reconciliation package.

Then Social Security, cutting 7,000 employees, you cut so many employees in your thirsty quest to find ways to fill this hole for these tax cuts for the billionaires, but you crashed the Social Security website. You have closed offices. You have told seniors and those with disabilities to figure out a way to get themselves to one of the few offices that are still open, but you are going to have to wait in a longer line because we have fired employees and are actually ending phone services for claims.

Really, it is a very sneaky, shady way of kicking people off of the services because you are constricting access.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to see a bunch of seniors struggling in a car or trying to get on the bus to go to the Social Security office that now has shorter hours and longer

lines because they are trying to get a claim that they have earned. Who tells a 75-year-old, a 68-year-old, an 80-year-old grandparent to go suck it--basically, figure out how you are going to survive. We are going to cut all of this from you, but I still want to visit you on Easter. I don't know what people say. I don't know how the hypocrisy formula works, but I am not down for cutting access to Social Security, cutting Social Security, and hurting our seniors because we want to give billions more, trillions more, in tax cuts to millionaires.

Let's talk about the arts and cutting funding for the arts, closing down museums, grant programs, and after-school programs that teach young people how to play music, how to play an instrument, and shutting down libraries.

It is so healing when we turn on the radio. We want to go to a concert. We go to an art performance because that is meaningful, regardless of your political party. Everyone deserves an opportunity to enjoy art, to be able to go to a library and have the choice of what book you want to pick out, but you have no choice when they are all shut down. That is what is in this reconciliation package.

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

Mr. Speaker, I almost lost my train of thought, but it has come back to me because I was talking about the arts.

The gentleman from Maryland was talking about our leadership as a country and how our leadership is in question. I would just like to add that not only is our leadership in question, but our attractiveness as a country is in question. Our competitive edge is in question. Our ability to be seen as forthright and a country of high integrity is in question.

These cuts are hurting our children. They are hurting our grandparents. They are hurting our farmers. They are hurting our small businesses. They are hurting the infrastructure in our States. They are hurting our ports. They are hurting our hospitals. They are hurting our clinics. They are hurting our parks. Honestly, they are hurting our hearts.

I think about that big red, white, and blue flag right behind the Speaker's chair and what that flag represents: opportunity, access, honesty, integrity. What we have seen last week and what we are seeing this week from the House majority when it comes to this reconciliation bill is silence. It is silent on these issues that mean so much to the people in our communities.

I can't tell you how many times I have walked down the street and have had an older person grab me and say, ``What is going to happen to my Social Security?'' Coming here to vote, I had a Capitol Police officer pull me to the side and ask me what it meant for his job, if he would have a job. Going to talk to farmers, I had them tell me that they may have to fire or lay off the rest of their employees, that they would not be able to make it. Small businesses in the community that are hiring other people from the community are concerned.

Everyone asks, ``What are Republicans doing? Why aren't they standing up for us, too?''

I don't have an answer to that question. I want an answer to that question because when you are silent, it means you are complicit or apathetic. I would hope that there would be no one here who would want to be complicit in the taking away of Social Security, Medicaid, or Medicare. I would hope that no one here would want to be complicit in having young children with cancer at a children's hospital die because we have cut cancer research funding.

As I say this, I think about my mother, a breast cancer survivor who wonders every day if it will come back. Boy, how do you think it gets me right in the craw to have to tell her that this country doesn't care if she lives or dies because it doesn't care enough about finding a cure for cancer to continue to fund that kind of research?

We just celebrated Mother's Day. I wonder if people shared with their mothers how all the support that helps mothers will now be on the chopping block.

I am sharing all of this on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus because as we wait to see what comes out of the remaining committees that are meeting, just know that there is a $290 billion cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, cutting off food assistance to thousands of families who need it.

Just know that, in these committees, they will be debating raising the age for mandatory work requirements because we want people to work longer and harder and get less while somehow billionaires make more off of the backs of these working families.

Just know that, in these committees, they are going to be talking about cutting access to school lunches. So many of us live in districts where the school district is actually responsible for feeding the children in the community because of the free lunch program.

I know that people might be distracted by the Qatar gift, the $400 million flying palace. Let's hope there are no bugs in it. I don't know. I know people want to be distracted by all the other things that seem to be coming out of the administration, but I don't want us to be distracted by that.

I want us to be talking about this reconciliation bill. I want us to remember what is going to be voted on in this package, and it is a thing. It is a thing that it is actually taking so long for this package to arrive on the floor.

Do you know why it is a thing? Because we have a House majority trying to wiggle through the truth and figure out a way to spin death, destruction, and poverty.

There is no way to spin kicking granny off of Social Security. There is no way to spin shutting down hospitals and clinics. We can demonize the folks who are on Medicaid and Medicare, but I want to also remind us that if there is a doctor, if there is a clinic, if there is a hospital that is receiving a reimbursement for taking care of a recipient on Medicaid, that doctor, that hospital, that community clinic is open to serve you, too, because that reimbursement allows that clinic, that doctor, that hospital to stay open to help and serve everyone else in the community.

A lot of this rhetoric that you are hearing from people who don't want to talk about this reconciliation bill is trying to divide us into ``us'' and ``them'' buckets. The truth is that we are all in this together. We are all in this country together. We are all in this debate together. We are all in this fight together to make sure that the people in our districts have access to the services that they deserve.

If you are not willing to stand up for Medicare--and don't sign a letter and then run and don't show up in a district. Stand up and talk about saving it, protecting it, defending it, and making it better so that it can serve more people who deserve it rather than cutting it and lying about it and running from the truth.

The truth is that this reconciliation bill, this package, is going to hurt people. It is going to impoverish people. It is going to destroy businesses because the funny thing about economies is that they are circular. Nothing happens in a silo, in a vacuum. Businesses stay open because people are able to go into those businesses, and they are able to shop and buy things. When that happens, that business is able to grow, and they are able to hire more workers. Then those workers are able to do more or produce more.

Mr. Speaker, that is how it works. Yet, when you cut off opportunity, access, incentive, and support, then you compromise that ecosystem. We all have those micro-ecosystems in our communities. That is what makes this country strong. That is what makes this country unique. That is what makes this country worthy of this kind of debate.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to close right now because I know the witching hour is among us. I am grateful for the time that has been given to the Congressional Black Caucus. The Speaker has heard from my distinguished colleagues about this reconciliation package and about all issues of great importance to this caucus, to our constituents, to the Congress, and to all Americans tonight.

This reconciliation bill is a big deal. It is important and it should be talked about and discussed. The best disinfectant is sunlight, and we have to stop allowing people to be so shady about

what is happening in these committees and what is being cut. We have to turn all the lights on and talk about all of the cuts that are coming in this reconciliation package. Yes, we have to point the fingers and point the blame at the people who plan to make these cuts and kill the American people.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today to coanchor this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour, along with the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Brown), my distinguished colleague.

For the next 60 minutes, members of the CBC have an opportunity to speak directly to the American people on the harmful policies of Donald Trump's first 100 days in his second term, an issue of great importance to the Congressional Black Caucus, to the Congress in general, to constituents that we represent across this country, and really to any living, breathing person on this planet.

The first 100 days of this administration have been about policies that are delusional, diabolical, destructive, and dangerous. These have been doozy policies and politics that are doing nothing but hurting America, and especially Black Americans.

We are also going to be talking about so many of these policies that seem uniquely targeted to focus on the place and the progress of Black Americans. Make no mistake, if you are trying to hurt Black Americans, you are inadvertently also going to hurt all other Americans because so many folks are dependent on Section 8 vouchers, on Social Security, on Medicaid, on Medicare, on an economy that is working, on not being tariffed up the wazoo so that we can be able to purchase goods and services that we need to keep this economy growing.

The American people need a moment of peace and structure coming from this administration, not the chaos and the ringing of alarms every single moment.

This is not hyperbole, even though it might sound like it. This is not partisan spin. We have seen this when we have gone into our districts, when we have hosted townhalls, when we have talked to the American people. Everyone is saying the same thing. How can we protect our Constitution, protect our economy, protect our way of life, our freedoms, our liberties; not deport us? What is this administration doing to help us rather than to hurt and harm and divide us?

The power of this country is in the people. For the next 60 minutes, the Congressional Black Caucus is going to be speaking to the people in crystal clear ways, using crystal clear words about how we are on the brink, if not through the door, of a constitutional crisis, of an economic, of a political, of a moral crisis, and a crisis of the very identity of this country.

It is often said that when America has a cold, Black America has pneumonia. Let me tell you something. We are all up in urgent care and in the community clinics and in the hospitals because we are all sick right now.

We cannot afford another 100 days of the 100 days that we have just seen.

I have so much more that I want and that I will say, but I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Brown) to share some words before we allow members of the Congressional Black Caucus to also speak to the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Brown from Ohio for her remarks.

As you can see, Congresswoman Brown was breaking it down, she was keeping it real, and she was bringing the receipts. That is what the Congressional Black Caucus does each and every day. We break it down for the American people, we keep it real for the American people, and we bring the receipts for the American people. The problem is there are so many receipts to share right now in just 100 days, we don't have enough tote bags for all the receipts.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Georgia, Congresswoman Lucy McBath, to share remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honorable Lucy McBath from the great State of Georgia for her remarks, and I am grateful that she talked about DOGE because the reality is that DOGE has not found any substantive evidentiary fraud in all of their work these past 100 days.

If they had, they would be blasting it across every social media platform and every network. They probably would be making stamps and stamping your head with all of the fraud that they have found, but that is not the case.

What they have been doing, however, is harassing and intimidating and disrespecting our workers, creating a hostile environment for our Federal workers, intimidating them to resign or to leave, mostly because of ideology, not because of the work they are doing.

We have to continue to tell the truth, which is that government is people. Government works because of people. When you have a healthcare claim, when you are trying to get your insurance, when you are trying to apply for FEMA, when you are trying to get your Social Security payment, when you are trying to get access to your Medicaid or your Medicare benefits, when you are trying to find a nursing home facility, when you are trying to get a passport, when you are trying to call in to the government to get the help that you deserve from the government that we have all pledged to provide for you, there ain't going to be nobody to answer the phone when you call because DOGE and this administration are actually working overtime to make sure that you don't have access to government.

The policies of this administration are working overtime to try to make sure that there will be no government and they are painting it all under the auspices of Black folks because somehow they think that Black America is responsible for so many of the ills that they are trying to cure.

Once again, as Representative Brown shared, the diversity, the equity, and the inclusion, and when last I checked, this country was founded on all of those things. It has been made great because of all of those things.

When we talk about DOGE, I know one thing for sure is that these folks working for DOGE are actually squatting in the departments where they have worked to terminate Federal workers, and they are bringing in washers and dryers and mattresses and all their kids, living rent-free in departments that are actually designed and structured to answer the call and to take care of the needs that you have as a citizen, as a constituent, as an American. We have to talk about that. That is the fraud.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas, the Honorable Jasmine Crockett, and you know that she is going to bring receipts. I know she has a trunk full of them.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honorable Jasmine Crockett for her remarks and for always keeping it real. I will reiterate

some of the things that she said, which is that this administration has been targeting Black Americans, possibly because they are so afraid of our shine. This administration and its policies have certainly been laser focused on trying to tear down Black women. You don't have to connect too many dots to understand why that is.

I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Ivey) to break it down for us and share some of his receipts.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honorable Glenn Ivey for his very sobering remarks.

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

Mr. Speaker, I again want to add my thanks to Representative Glenn Ivey for talking about healthcare and the fact that this administration has been cutting grants to the National Institutes of Health and cutting clinical trials.

Over the weekend, I was at an event. We had doctors and advocates who talked about cancer, about breast cancer. This country is actually on the precipice of discovering a vaccination for breast cancer, a cure for breast cancer. We have amazing scientists in this country who have been researching this, and they are at the point of clinical trials.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know if you know anyone in your family who is a

survivor of breast cancer or any other kind of cancer. Oftentimes, when you go in and the surgeon puts you under to take it out, they don't know if they have gotten all of it out. They hope that they have, but for some odd reason, we have not advanced the technology to get all of it out. We are now on the precipice of being able to do so.

Mr. Speaker, do you know what this administration did? Instead of accelerating those clinical trials, instead of offering funding for that research to continue, instead of wanting to be a champion of the cure for cancer, this administration cut that research, cut that funding, and cut those clinical trials. They cut funding to educational institutions, to colleges, and to universities that are doing that kind of research. They essentially cut off our future scientists, innovators, and problem-solvers.

Our kids, who are investing their time, their money, our money, and their sweat to go to school and get an education and learn enough to help this country move forward and progress, are getting the short end of the stick. They are actually being beaten on the head with a stick that is held by this administration.

Representative Ivey talked about what is happening with the judiciary. In fact, this President actually said he didn't know if he even had to uphold the Constitution. Then, this administration is going to sue Justice Roberts. We have moved from three branches of government to one branch of government.

Republicans are silent tonight, just like they have been silent at all the markups and all the hearings we have had this month. They are silent, afraid, and unwilling to stand up for their constituents.

Mr. Speaker, they are only willing to defend this administration. They are going to be tasked hard when they continue to have to go into their districts and sell the fertilizer that they have to feed their constituents, voters, Americans, the fertilizer coming out of this administration designed to harm everyone that hasn't bent the knee.

Mr. Speaker, with that, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of Rhode Island (Mr. Amo).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Rhode Island for his remarks.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am so grateful to be a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and I want to just share some of my own stories coming from my district and also my experience.

I was in that Judiciary Committee where we had the hearing on immigration, and I was in that Committee when Republicans voted to deport and detain Americans, where they voted to allow for cavity searches on children, where they voted to allow ICE to go into domestic violence shelters, where they voted to allow January 6ers--those who wreaked havoc on this Capitol, assaulted Capitol Police, and terrorized everyone in this building--where they voted to allow them to work for the Federal Government, including the Department of Homeland Security.

I ask: How can you deport an American? Where are you going to deport an American to?

I don't understand.

I have yet to see anything from the Republicans or even from this administration, can we get a poster, can we get a picture of what a safe American looks like, what a nondeportable American looks like?

That is because I want to know. I want to be able to share that picture and that photo with my constituents to say: So if you look like this, if you are maybe this shape, if you have this degree of melanin, if this is the color of your hair, or this is the color of your eyes, or this is what you say, or if this is what kind of accent you have or not, then you might be safe.

I think the American people need to know which one of them will be deported next. I think the American people deserve to know which of their Representatives is going to stand up for them. That is because I know when the question was asked: Will you stand up for Americans and prevent them from being deported? Raise your hand. Only Democrats raised their hand.

I also have to ask when our loved ones and when our friends and family members go overseas and they get snatched, are Republicans going to pick up the phone and ask to have their constituents brought back?

Are they going to fight for them?

That is because in that Committee, they said that they were not going to. They have said that they are not going to fight for their healthcare, for Medicaid, for Medicare, and for Social Security.

I represent Los Angeles. People think it is flossy and glossy, I like to say. However, I have the third highest Medicaid enrollee district in the country. Mr. Speaker, 7 of the 10 highest Medicaid enrollee districts in this country are in California, and some of them are Republican districts.

I think we all want to know, Black Americans, White Americans, Asian Americans, and Latino Americans, all Americans want to know: Are you going to cut their Medicaid? Are you going to cut their Social Security?

Mr. Speaker, 140,000 children under the age of 19 and 40,000 seniors over the age of 65 in my district are at risk because of the policies coming from this administration. Nearly 8 million Americans get healthcare through Medicaid and through CHIP, which is on the chopping block.

This President wants to cut $5.6 billion from the Department of Education. The House Republicans' budget

includes $330 billion in cuts. Pell grants, school lunches, Head Start, and everything are on the chopping block.

In my district, we have L.A. Unified School District. For many of the kids who go to school, their only meal is when they go to school.

I am trying to figure out when folks say that they are Christian, what kind of Bible are they using? That is because the Bible that I have, Mr. Speaker, doesn't say that you starve children, that you cut off their healthcare, and that you cut off the healthcare for their grandparents.

Mr. Speaker, if your Bible says that, then I submit that maybe you change your Bible. That is because that is unchristianlike to kill seniors and children.

Let's talk about rolling back bedrock civil rights-era policies that are designed to actually allow everyone the opportunity to compete and participate in this marketplace. It is not about giving handouts. It is about creating opportunity. It is about creating access to competition.

Mr. Speaker, why would you be afraid of that unless you are mediocre, less than average, and need extra help because you can't compete?

Well, don't come for Black America. Fix yourself.

Let's talk about the workers who are the backbone of our economy, the workers who run this government. I am always surprised when folks are talking about unelected bureaucrats. Elon Musk is an unelected bureaucrat. Keep it real. All the staff who help us do our jobs and help our constituents are unelected bureaucrats, and the majority are actually Republicans. The administration wants to cut the salaries that allow folks to answer the phones for our constituents.

California has the second highest number of Federal workers.

Why are the Republicans going to cut that?

Mr. Speaker, might I remind you that we have the Olympics coming, we have the FIFA World Cup coming, we have the All-Star Game, and Super Bowl coming, and we are still producing movies and TV. We are helping people with their passports and their visas. If Republicans want all these games to be successful, then they have to resource the departments that process the visas and applications that allow people to come here. So let's keep it real.

Mr. Speaker, if you want to talk about housing, this administration is proposing to terminate section 8, cutting rental aid and evicting 32,000 families from their homes. This President even refused to come to Altadena after the urban fires. That is how little this administration thinks about Black communities.

This administration is not interested in Black America, even though this administration wanted to thank Black America.

What kind of thanks is that when they cut funding to HBCUs, when they cut Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, and when they cut Meals on Wheels and SNAP?

We are going to make America hungry again. We are going to make America sick again. I have a binder full of actions from this administration that have come out of this administration in just the last 100 days. They are terrifying. Not only are they terrifying for Black America, but they are terrifying for all America.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to happily close out this CBC Special Order hour and remind America that we will be back again next week with more information, more receipts, and more truth.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my co-lead, Congresswoman Shontel Brown from the great State of Ohio, and all the members of the Congressional Black Caucus who spoke tonight, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 63.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 62 and NAY on Roll Call No. 61.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 56.