American People Deserve Better

Floor Speech

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, this Congress is about to vote to pass another obscene military budget when the Pentagon just failed its seventh audit in a row. That is nearly a trillion dollars going to weapons and war.

When it comes to the Pentagon budget, not a single one of my colleagues asks: How are we going to pay for it?

Why is it, then, when it comes to addressing critical issues here like hunger, poverty, our broken healthcare system, or clean water, they tell me that we don't have the money.

However, even more disturbing for many of my residents and the American people is that many of my colleagues in this Chamber are profiting personally, financially when they vote to pass more funding for war.

I introduced the Stop Politicians Profiting from War Act, which bans Members of Congress and their families from owning defense stocks. My colleagues should not be able to use their positions of power to get rich from defense contractors while voting to pass more funding for war. Our elected officials should not be able to profit off of death. The American people deserve better. Fight Against Hunger

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, this holiday season, too many of our children are going to bed hungry while colleagues vote to pass nearly a trillion dollars for war. In the richest country in the world, millions of our children live in poverty, lacking access to necessities like food, shelter, and healthcare.

More than 44 million people across our Nation face hunger, including 15 percent in our Wayne County community in the 12th Congressional District.

SNAP is a key tool in combating hunger. It has been very successful in helping vulnerable communities like ours, and it remains the most vital line of defense against hunger. However, many of my Republican colleagues want to continue to cut this essential program.

We must protect and expand the social safety net and increase funding for SNAP and other programs to combat hunger. Working families in our country should not have to worry about where their next meal is coming from. Children cannot learn, Mr. Speaker, when they are hungry.

By investing in universal school meals, we can ensure every child has access to resources needed to thrive at school. SNAP families only receive an average of about $6 a day per person. That is it. We must not only protect this incredibly important food assistance program, but expand it to make sure it actually covers the growing cost of groceries.

We know that our families are getting price gouged every single day at the grocery store. If this body has money for endless wars, we must surely find the resources to end child hunger in our country. Amnesty International Report

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I will read into the Record something from a recent report. It said: ``Israel has forcibly displaced 90 percent of Gaza's 2.2 million inhabitants, many of them multiple times, into ever- shrinking, ever-changing pockets of land that lacked basic infrastructure, forcing people to live in conditions that exposed them to slow and calculated death. It has deliberately obstructed or denied the import and delivery of lifesaving goods and humanitarian aid. It has restricted power supplies that, together with damage and destruction, led to the collapse of the water, sanitation, and healthcare systems.''

Mr. Speaker, I just quoted from Amnesty International's 296-page report concluding that Israel's Government is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, as defined in international law by the Genocide Convention.

Mr. Speaker, I insert in the Record a hyperlink to Amnesty International's `` `You Feel Like You Are Subhuman': Israel's Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza.'' This report confirms what we have known for months. My colleagues can no longer deny this is genocide.

The hyperlink is: Https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/8668/ 2024/en.

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