Spending Cuts to Expired and Unnecessary Programs Act
Floor Speech
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I rise in strong opposition to this Republican rescission package.
Mr. Speaker, President Trump and congressional Republicans are trying to take deconstructing government to a new level. They are proposing to take $15 billion in Federal funds away from the citizenry and investment in our economy budgeted for the Children's Health Insurance Program, medical innovation, advanced manufacturing, infrastructure projects, and the list goes on.
Why?
They are doing so to pay for a tiny fraction of their $1.5 trillion tax cut for the rich. This is just another example of their irresponsible governance.
What is on the chopping block?
With this rescission package, the majority would cut the balances in the Children's Health Insurance Program by $7 billion, simply send them back to the Treasury. They would cut funding when we should be investing in critical services for children and families.
They would cut funding that helps workers who have lost their jobs due to trade access health insurance.
They would cut funding for AmeriCorps and prevent more people from serving vulnerable populations in their communities.
They would cut funding for critical healthcare infrastructure projects.
Just a few months ago, we used these funds to replace the Biosafety Level 4 laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control. This lab is necessary for handling the most highly pathogenic organisms, such as Ebola, other hemorrhagic fevers, and smallpox. This is a critical piece of public health infrastructure. Why do Republicans want to cut its source of funding?
They would cut funding for programs that rural America depends on, rural housing programs, rural water programs. For example, it would rescind $15 million from the Value Added Producer Grant Program, a vital lifeline for small businesses in rural America.
Well, I want to remind Americans that the President and his House allies are betraying the promise they made to the American people, Mr. Speaker.
In March, we agreed to historic and urgently needed funding for our families. The omnibus funding bill for 2018 made important investments in health, education, and job programs. It made critical investments that boost the middle class.
It was not easy. We worked hard to come to an overwhelmingly bipartisan agreement that benefits the people of this country. And now, months later, the Trump administration and House Republicans are violating the spirit of that agreement. It is not a serious way to govern.
This is money for our children, not for the President to claw back to placate fervent conservatives who maintain their drumbeat on Twitter and TV.
And what do Republicans get for breaking their word, going back on their promises and taking from children?
Well, according to the Congressional Budget Office, Mr. Speaker, the actual impact of this rescission package would amount to $1 billion over 10 years. That is less than 1 percent of the Republicans' $1.5 trillion tax scam for the rich. In fact, it is one one-hundredth of a percent.
If Republicans are so worried about spending, why not rescind the money from the tax giveaway to corporations that are using it to buy back stock? They are not raising wages.
Well, they appear to be beholden to the lobbyists and the insiders who have profited so exorbitantly from that gift. And according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 83 percent of the tax scam benefits will go to the top 1 percent.
And those big boosts to paychecks? They have not materialized.
You look at Walmart. They spent $20 billion on stock buybacks for their shareholders; yet, according to the Roosevelt Institute, had Walmart instead dedicated that money to workers, they could have raised wages to more than $16 an hour. They did not.
Mr. Speaker, budgets, spending, appropriations, and rescissions reflect our values, and it is clearer than ever that President Trump, Speaker Ryan, and the Republicans in the Congress value corporations and the wealthy, not people who work for a living or those who are the most vulnerable. They rig the rules for the rich and rob from the poor to pay for it.
Congress must reject President Trump's proposal and put forth policies that work for the middle class and families and for those who are most vulnerable, not balance the budget on their backs.
The American people would be far better served if Congressional Republicans joined with Democrats to fund critical investments in education, healthcare, infrastructure, and protecting our retirement programs.
When teachers are protesting across the country for fair pay, Republicans want to go backwards. When Americans are stuck in jobs that do not pay enough to live on, Republicans want to go backwards. When 40 percent of households cannot afford the basics of a modern, middle class lifestyle, Republicans want to go backwards.
Mr. Speaker, it is unconscionable, and the American people deserve better.
But the gentleman hasn't told us that the money they take from CHIP is not going into programs for children. It is going back to the Treasury, so we will take a look at cuts to Head Start, maternal child health programs, childhood immunization, newborn screening, child lead poisoning prevention, and many others. Tell the whole story.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Wasserman Schultz), who is the ranking member of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record letters of opposition from First Focus Campaign for Children, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Committee for Education Funding, National Housing Conference, Service Employees International Union, faith organizations, and other national organizations.
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Oppose Attempt to Raid the Farm Bill Through Rescissions
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Mr. Speaker, the Republicans want to talk about spending. Let's talk about the Republican tax cut. It was rigged for the rich. It gave 83 percent of the tax cuts to the wealthiest 1 percent. They raised taxes on 86 million middle class families. It cost $1.5 trillion.
We have a staggering national debt. They want to reduce that deficit. Well, then why don't they go ahead and rescind the money from the tax giveaways to the corporations? The corporations are just using it to buy back stocks and not to raise any wages.
What we ought to be doing is reinvesting: create jobs; help children and families, not millionaires and billionaires.
If they wanted to do something about the CHIP program, they would have made it permanent or they would take that money and reinvest it in programs that have to do with children, not send it back to the treasury. What they ought to do is to find those resources from their rich donors and others and put them back into where they belong, to the American people.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the following letters in opposition to H.R. 3: May 22, 2018.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
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