Providing for Consideration of H.R. Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. MULLIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the majority's manufactured shutdown threat. For this reason, I ask my colleagues to defeat the previous question so we can bring up legislation that commits to protecting vital programs, like Social Security.

Our most vulnerable communities will suffer as a result of this shortsighted attempt to hold our most important Federal programs hostage. For example, my California bay area district is home to over 127,000 senior citizens, many of whom rely on Social Security.

Under a Republican shutdown, new applicants to the Social Security program wouldn't be able to enroll in this bedrock American program. While Social Security payments would continue during a shutdown, seniors would experience even more delays and lengthy phone queues when contacting the Social Security Administration. Many seniors already struggle to find help, and a Republican shutdown would only exacerbate this problem.

Modern Republicans are playing roulette with essential constituent services and creating yet another manufactured crisis.

I urge the majority to bring a serious bipartisan proposal to the table to prevent this avoidable crisis.

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