Mr. President, now the Trump agenda, a few months into Donald Trump’s second term, Americans are getting a clear look at what Trump 2.0 is all about.
Last week, Americans got a good look at Trump 2.0 when the White House released its so-called skinny budget. Trump’s days of pretending to be a populist are over. His budget is an all-out assault on healthcare, education, public safety, and programs that help small businesses. They want to ax domestic programs that help tens of millions of people--hundreds of millions, really--by nearly a quarter. It is radical to its rotten core.
The budget is proof positive that the Emperor has no clothes. Donald Trump is a con man who does not care one iota about the struggle of everyday Americans. He would rather listen to his billionaire buddies than to the American people in terms of what the country needs.
Few things crystallize Trump’s 2.0 as much as Republicans’ signature bill--a massive tax break for billionaires financed by the biggest cuts to Medicaid ever. For months, Republicans have tried to muddle their way forward on their agenda with magic talk totally severed from reality. Republicans say they want trillions in tax giveaways for the wealthy, trillions in spending cuts, but somehow claim these drastic changes won’t hurt average Americans. Cut Medicaid, they say, but nobody will lose benefits. That is totally illogical.
Even the worst studies I have seen show that the percentage of “waste, fraud, and abuse” is much, much less than the $880 billion they say they are going to cut. They really want to slash Medicaid to the bone. Waste is something of a pretext for them.
Reality is now coming back to bite our Republican colleagues. In the House, Republicans are at total loggerheads about how to move forward. Now, mind you, there is zero disagreement among Republicans when it comes to the big goal: massive tax giveaways for the wealthy. They agree on axing popular programs like Medicaid, like Social Security, and like veterans. What Republicans disagreed on is simply the method for screwing Americans over, which is the better way to screw Americans over. That is what they disagree about. That is what they are fighting about--but not on the goals, which are pernicious.
Why do Republicans face such a conundrum, where they are so at odds with one another? Simple answer: because their agenda is so unpopular with the American people, and neither House--and no Republican Senator--wants to be left holding this hot potato.
The backlash Republicans are getting from the public, whether it is at townhalls or in the streets or through dismal polling data, should serve as a warning to our colleagues on the other side: If they proceed with their agenda, the political outcry will be enormous.
The idea that some of the Republicans are saying, “Well, we are going to our leadership to make a request”--if that request is not granted, if Medicaid is still slashed, for instance, it is how they vote that is going to matter, what they put into effect, not going to constituents and saying, “Oh, I agree with you. I will go to my leadership.”
But when leadership says no, are they going to vote against the bill? We will see. I doubt it. I very much doubt it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it is going to happen. And they--each Republican who votes for reconciliation and bad budgets--will be left holding that hot potato.
Random excerpts from the House
Mr. Speaker, I keep hearing the term ``constitutional crisis’’ over and over again. Candidly, the only constitutional crisis that has taken place over the last 4 years was the last administration abandoning their responsibility to defend our border and allowing over 10 million people to enter this country illegally, cutting in line over people who want to come here legally and add to the American Dream.
We don’t know who these 10 million people are, where they came from, or if they could be a danger to our community and country. On top of that, they put a strain on our social welfare system, schools, hospitals, and law enforcement, taking away resources from the tax-paying citizens in areas not just on the border but around the country.
When food, gas, and rent prices were going up by 20 and 30 percent, if not more, over that time period, the very people who were breaking the law were actually getting free things, whether it be rent, phones, cash cards, and other things that Americans were struggling to pay for every single day.
Cleaning up this mess has become our responsibility, the new majority, the new administration that has committed itself to actually keeping the promises from the campaign trail in 2024. Instead of bending over backward to help people who are breaking the law, they want to look at it and say: How about those folks that were left behind?
They were facing a constitutional crisis in the sense that their own government was not enforcing the laws of this land.
— Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-FL-8)
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this complete waste of time, the Gulf of America Act.
While Americans are struggling with real problems, while Trump is trampling over the constitutional rights of the citizens he swore to protect, Republicans are wasting this Chamber’s time with performative nonsense.
Here is the choice this comes down to:
We could focus on helping 40 million Americans saddled with medical debt, or we could rename the Gulf of Mexico.
We could ensure that the 10 million children going hungry every night have enough food to eat, or we could rename the Gulf of Mexico.
We could address our Nation’s highest maternal mortality rate, where women are dying in this country every day while giving birth, or we could rename the Gulf of Mexico.
We could address our Nation’s lack of affordable housing, where families are struggling to find safe shelter, or we could rename the Gulf of Mexico.
We could make sure our veterans, who are waiting for weeks for appointments at VA clinics, get the desperate care they need after making such extreme sacrifices in the honor of service to our country, or we could rename the Gulf of Mexico.
We could be protecting Social Security and Medicare, protecting Medicaid, finding affordable childcare for the millions of children in this country and reducing the high cost of living that so many families in all of our districts are struggling to afford basic necessities, or we could rename the Gulf of Mexico.
Republicans have made their choice. They want to focus on renaming a body of water that doesn’t need renaming instead of the emergent needs of the people that we all represent. The bill’s cosponsor, the woman from Georgia, in her district one in five residents live below the poverty line. Her district ranks near the bottom in Georgia for health outcomes, and opioid overdose rates continue to climb. Broadband access remains limited, and public schools are underresourced.
However, again, instead of working on bills to bring down the high cost of healthcare, making broadband accessible for Americans all over the country, or helping families struggling with addiction, we are renaming the Gulf of Mexico as if it is the most important, pressing issue facing this country.
This is not governing. It is a distraction. It is political theater, and it is an insult to the intelligence of every American who expects us in Congress to do the serious work of solving real problems and making their lives better.
This bill does not achieve any of those ends. The American people did not send us here to troll and suck up to a President. They sent us here to legislate, lead, and make their lives better.
I urge my colleagues to vote ``no’’ on this stupid bill and focus on what matters to the American people.
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