Further Continuing Appropriations and Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2025
Floor Speech
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Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from the great State of Connecticut, who is our top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, for yielding and for her incredibly strong and steadfast leadership during this process.
House Democrats, House Republicans, Senate Democrats, and Senate Republicans reached a bipartisan agreement to fund the government, prevent a shutdown, and meet the needs of the American people.
We reached a bipartisan agreement to provide disaster assistance to people who had their lives turned upside down by extreme weather events--hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and wildfires--all across America.
We reached a bipartisan agreement to be there for farmers, families, children, seniors, working-class Americans all across the country, the men and women who serve this country in uniform, and our veterans.
House Republicans have abandoned that bipartisan agreement that we entered into in good faith. It was a bill that House Republicans negotiated. You gave us your word that we were going to move forward together on behalf of the American people.
It was a Republican-drafted bill that was posted by House Republicans. Then, one or two puppet masters weigh in, and the extreme MAGA Republicans decide to do the bidding of the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected millionaires and billionaires, not working-class people all across America.
The bill that is before us today is just part of an effort to shut down the government unless we, as Representatives of the American people, bend to the will of just a handful of millionaires and billionaires because the provisions in this bill, particularly as it relates to suspending the debt ceiling for 2 years, are designed to bring about a massive tax cut unpaid for for wealthy donors, for wealthy corporations, and for millionaires and billionaires who clearly some in this Congress are working for. This bill is validation for it.
Now, what has been interesting to me is that for decades, the Republican Party has lectured America about fiscal responsibility and about the debt and the deficit. It has always been phony. This bill proves it.
The one thing we do know is that every time a Republican President comes into office, the one thing we can count on Republicans to do is to pass a massive tax cut for wealthy Americans and, in the process, stick working-class Americans with the bill by raising the deficit and the debt.
That is what happened in the 1980s. When Ronald Reagan was President, the biggest thing that he did was pass a massive tax cut for the wealthy and the well-off that was paid for by working families and middle-class folks all across the country. It didn't do anything for middle-class Americans. It didn't do anything to stimulate the economy.
As far as this whole notion of trickle-down economics, I have come to the conclusion that trickle-down economics simply means that middle- class families and that working-class Americans may get a trickle, but they are guaranteed to stay down. That is what your economics are all about.
Massive tax cuts for the wealthy and the well-off under President Reagan continued until President Bush. Bill Clinton came into office and inherited a significant deficit. Under his stewardship, President Clinton turned a deficit into a surplus and passed that surplus to President George W. Bush from the so-called party of fiscal responsibility.
Once again, we see the same exact playbook: Republicans inherit a surplus, and they immediately blow it to pass massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected; not provide relief to working-class Americans. It was a tax cut in 2001 unpaid for and then a tax cut in 2003 unpaid for. They continued to run up the debt and the deficit prosecuting two failed wars.
The so-called party of fiscal responsibility wants to lecture America when their record speaks for itself.
President Obama came in after mismanagement related to the prior administration, including helping to trigger the Great Recession, and he inherited a deficit from a Republican President of $1.5 trillion as well as the Great Recession. Working under the leadership of President Obama, Democrats in the House and the Senate got the situation turned around and, over an 8-year period of time, reduced the deficit by $1 trillion, from $1.5 trillion to $500 billion. This is progress under Democratic leadership as it relates to getting America's fiscal house in order.
Then, Donald Trump came into office and, again, followed the same exact playbook. After failing to take healthcare away from millions of Americans, the Republicans turned their attention to the GOP tax scam, where 83 percent of the benefits went to the wealthiest 1 percent. Why? It was to subsidize the lifestyles of the rich and famous.
In the process of doing that, they borrowed $2.3 trillion that was added to our debt and exploded the deficit, the so-called party of fiscal responsibility.
In fact, this debt that we are dealing with and that Democrats are taking seriously and that Republicans have no interest in being responsible around, that is what this 2-year suspension of the debt ceiling is all about.
In our Nation's 248-year history, 25 percent of our Nation's debt was accumulated during the 4 years of the former President--25 percent.
How dare Republicans lecture America about fiscal responsibility ever.
Then, President Biden came into office and got big things done for the American people on infrastructure and on the CHIPS and Science Act. He stood up a clean energy economy, rescued America from a once-in-a- century pandemic, and got all these big things done by partnering with House Democrats and Senate Democrats. In the process, in his first 2 years, he reduced the deficit by $1.7 trillion.
So, we see a very clear pattern. The facts speak for themselves. Democrats are the party of getting things done and fiscal responsibility. Republicans are the party of massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected, which brings us to this very moment.
That is because this bill is designed to set up the GOP tax scam 2.0 to stick the American people with a bill so that they can continue to cut taxes for wealthy donors and well-connected corporations and jam working-class Americans.
That is what this bill today, fundamentally, is all about. That is why Republicans are suspending the debt ceiling for 2 years, the so- called party of fiscal responsibility.
In addition to these massive tax cuts, we know how they want to pay for it. Many Republicans have said this in the public domain, that: We want to end Social Security as we know it, end Medicare as we know it, end Medicaid as we know it, end nutritional assistance as we know it, and not support our veterans.
These are all the reasons why Democrats are opposed to this legislation. It is because you are trying to jam working-class Americans again, as you have repeatedly done over and over and over again.
Those are the facts.
The other problem with this bill is that we negotiated, in a bipartisan, bicameral way, real progress for working-class Americans, for middle-class Americans, and for everyday Americans who aspire to be part of the middle class. That has been cut out of this legislation.
Why would you do that? Why would you eliminate funding for community health centers? That impacts the heartland of America, urban America, rural America, suburban America, small-town America, and Appalachia. Why would you cut out funding for community health centers?
We are fighting for those everyday Americans. That is why we are opposed to this legislation.
Why would you cut funding for nutritional assistance for children in America, for seniors in America, and for veterans in America? Why would you do that? This bill cuts funding for nutritional assistance that had previously been agreed upon, and that is why we are opposed to this legislation.
This legislation actually cuts a program that was designed to help children and their parents detect cancer. Cruelty is the point. Why would you eliminate that program? We are going to fight for the children of America.
So, the reasons are too numerous to articulate, though with my magic minute, I could do that.
We have laid out the challenges with this bill, the phoniness in claiming that extreme MAGA Republicans are about working-class Americans and are the party of fiscal responsibility. Nothing could be further from the truth.
When you run up the debt and the deficit, middle-class families pay and working-class families pay. We are going to defend them. House Democrats are going to continue to fight for working families, middle- class families, all those who aspire to be part of the middle class, for the children of America, for the seniors of America, for the unions in America, for the veterans of America, and for the least, the lost, the left behind, for the poor, the sick, and the afflicted.
We are going to continue to fight for everyday Americans. That is why we are voting ``no'' on this bill.
Mr. Speaker, to stop this reckless, regressive, and reactionary Republican shutdown, vote ``no.''
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