Congressional Black Caucus--Road to Ruin: House Republicans Fail on the Budget

Floor Speech

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Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Jeffries and I thank the Congressional Black Caucus for giving us this opportunity to always be the conscience of this Congress.

I want to thank the gentleman for his tireless efforts to raise awareness on not just the Committee on the Judiciary, but all of the work that he does.

This group has come together this evening to talk about the fact that once again the Republicans have created a road to ruin in their budget failure.

We talked about the fact that this Republican Congress has blown past the statutory deadline to enact a budget last week, reflecting, apparently, the belief of the leadership that their already severe budget proposal was not even radical enough to pass through this Republican majority.

The gentleman talked about some of the draconian measures that were already in the budget that they had proposed, which seems to have not been sufficient enough for their caucus.

At the direction of the House GOP leadership, the Budget Committee put forth one of the most devastating budgets in history and the majority rejected that plan as insufficient, which can only lead us to believe that it was not even severe enough for them.

Some of the things that were in that budget were an end to a Medicare guarantee for seniors, makes $6.5 trillion in cuts--the sharpest cuts ever proposed by the House Budget Committee--devastates investments in good-paying jobs, education, and American infrastructure, repeals the Affordable Care Act and dismantling the affordable health care of 20 million Americans.

Now, as expressed by the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty), in February, the administration, our President, requested support for Americans through the budget that he submitted to this Congress, which provided support for education, job training support, bolstering our obligation to seniors, real tools for growth for the territories in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and others by inclusion in the Affordable Care Act and expansion of Medicare.

But it seems that the Republicans have failed their promise to pass a budget, never mind even listen to or hear the head of OMB on that budget.

Their goal is still clear, to take us back to radical, trickle-down agenda that shattered our economy in the past and hollowed out the wages of middle-class Americans.

At that same time, House Republicans have done nothing to help the thousands of Americans struggling to protect their families from the three public health crises the chief spoke of: Zika, the opioid addict addictions, and the Flint water crisis. In Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Florida, and now even Texas, this is a real crisis concerns the Zika virus.

Last week, Democrats on the Appropriations Committee wrote to Chairman Hal Rogers requesting an immediate hearing on the administration's 1.9 billion emergency supplemental request for Zika, pointing out that: ``The Zika virus is a true public health emergency that has the potential to affect millions of Americans this summer, including more than 2 million pregnant women.''

What did that committee do? Absolutely nothing. Not even the respect of a hearing. They have not responded to anything but just their inaction and indifference.

Instead of taking action to pass a budget or address urgent public health crises, the House Republicans are now wasting a full week grandstanding on the IRS. That is just the kind of hollow, meaningless posturing the American people have come to expect from this Congress.

Hardworking families deserve a Congress that invests in their future, protects their safety, creates a level playing field for them and their children to succeed. Democrats will continue to press for a budget that creates jobs, raises the paychecks, creates opportunities for American people while reducing the deficit in a balanced and responsible way.

I look forward to hearing, with the rest of my colleagues, their thoughts on this budget process and even possibly solutions for us as American people to come away with a clear budget that creates growth and opportunities for Americans.

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