Issues Facing American Families

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, the American people expect Congress to address the issues they care about, kitchen table issues like being able to afford prescription drugs or get a good-paying job and addressing the gun violence that is plaguing our neighborhoods.

But instead of getting to work for the American people, House Republicans, held hostage by MAGA extremists, spent their first week engaging in power struggles and brawls and political stunts. Instead of lowering costs for American families, they voted to help wealthy tax cheats and greedy corporations avoid paying their fair share of taxes, a move that would raise the Federal deficit by over $100 billion.

Instead of creating better-paying jobs, they launched a new committee to chase down conspiracy theories and settle scores for the disgraced, twice-impeached former President.

Instead of working to make our communities safer, they doubled down on their crusade to criminalize women's healthcare and end reproductive rights across this country. The party that once claimed to stand for family values has no interest in solving the most pressing issues facing American families.

I am disappointed but never discouraged.

No matter what political stunts House Republicans pull, my colleagues and I will remain focused on delivering for the people we represent. We will keep working to create better-paying jobs and opportunities for our children, to lower costs for families, and to make our communities safer. Political Violence is Never the Answer

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Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, as political violence rises in our country and abroad, our Nation's leaders should be united in condemning political violence in all forms, as well as the vile rhetoric that fuels it.

From Charlottesville to Pittsburgh to El Paso, we have seen the tragic results when lies spill blood and words echo as gunshots. These attacks ripple through communities stealing innocent lives, traumatizing survivors, and inflicting pain on those left behind.

The underlying drivers of domestic violent extremism, antigovernment sentiment, racism, misogyny, and anti-Semitism are constant as threats and attacks move from one community to the next.

We all have a moral responsibility to combat this scourge of hateful rhetoric, to ensure that every American can live free from bigoted speech and hate-fueled violence.

But the resolution presented by Republicans today continues that pattern of stoking grievances and chaos in our communities rather than helping our communities work together to ensure domestic tranquility.

Their resolution is far from a clean condemnation of political violence. By condemning only vandalism and violence against anti- abortion facilities, it gives tacit approval to the far more frequent attacks against abortion clinics and other medical centers disfavored by the radical right.

Political violence is never the answer.

I look forward to working with our colleagues across the aisle when they are ready to take seriously the very real threat of political violence, condemning such violence in all forms, rather than using this issue to stir up more division, chaos, and ultimately more violence.

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