Lowering Costs for Americans

Floor Speech

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, eggs in my district are $9.19 or, as one resident said, it is ten bucks to buy eggs, Rashida.

I want everyone to think about this because the Federal minimum wage is $7.25 right now. We know grocery prices are out of control, and our government is failing to lower costs for working families. This is why my residents don't call it the minimum wage. They call it the starvation wage. It has been 16 years since Congress has raised the Federal minimum wage.

Let's get to the core value here of understanding this. A mother in our country right now can work for an hour and not be able to afford eggs. It is really unacceptable. I heard the reasons, but they still don't add up. It is unacceptable that billionaires and corporations are consolidating their power and price gouging the American people, our families.

This crisis should be our focus. I understand that there are many dynamics that they keep putting forward. Why aren't we doing anything about it? Fear and division keep us distracted from what is really going on. Those that are rich and wealthy in our country become richer under every single decision I have seen so far.

One glaring thing missing in the 200 executive orders that we have seen this week is any mention of lowering the grocery prices for our families, not one word. We know there have been promises made by this current administration that they are going to lower costs for Americans on day one. Three weeks into the new Congress, we haven't seen a single bill come to the floor on this issue.

In my district they are drowning in the high costs of healthcare. Don't get me started about auto insurance, which is now up 40 percent, many paying almost the cost of rent, the cost of their mortgage to have auto insurance which is required by law to have if a person owns a vehicle.

Instead, we are seeing threats of tariffs that will drive grocery prices higher. Instead, we see them getting rid of protections for discriminatory actions by companies, by actors that we know fully intended to benefit from racist policies.

I know that this doesn't matter to the current President and his billionaire friends. They don't worry about the cost of a carton of eggs or milk or groceries, especially when the three wealthiest men in America are sitting right behind the current President at his inauguration. Their combined worth, so that the American people understand, is $911 billion.

It is clear that the billionaires now control our government, and this Chamber can't let that happen. We need legislative action to lower the cost of living for the American people. Trust me that this is a bipartisan issue. Every corner of our country is asking us to do something about this.

These are issues that, again, matter to many, many families. That is why my residents care about it so much. Stop with the fear-mongering and the hate. I know you are distracting us because you are helping your billionaire friends, but you are hurting so many American people who are drowning right now with the cost of living. Embracing Immigrants

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, immigrants in our country are already under attack, especially our undocumented neighbors. These are hateful and divisive executive orders and a violent assault on our communities and our country. Our very identity, as we all know, is a nation of immigrants.

I wouldn't be here as a child of immigrants. My father, with only a fourth grade education, was able to work in the auto plant line. My mother only had an eighth grade education. They were able to achieve the American Dream to see their daughter become a United States Congresswoman.

What are we doing instead of embracing that identity? We are punishing sanctuary cities that embrace our immigrant neighbors. We are dismantling asylums and humanitarian paroles. We are dehumanizing our immigrant neighbors. We are banning all refugees, even those who waited patiently for years, who followed the law, had flights booked, already cleared, and were denied entry.

We are already laying the groundwork. He is already doing it for the Muslim ban, many of our neighbors, myself, my family, all of us. Even though it is not directly targeted toward us, attacking a whole faith is un-American. Sending ICE to schools, hospitals, and churches is hateful and divisive.

He is even trying to override the 14th Amendment of the Constitution to end birthright citizenship. It is clear from my residents and folks around the country there is absolutely no doubt if you are born in the United States, you are a U.S. citizen. The President does not have the authority to change that, period.

We must fight back to prevent these policies rooted in racism and white nationalism. That means opposing plans for mass deportation. Our families must protect each other. It has nothing to do with public safety. They want us distracted so they can help their billionaire friends become richer.

That means opposing his plans for mass deportation. It means showing up to defend our friends, coworkers, and neighbors when they raid our communities.

It means my colleagues must stop voting to pass racist and authoritarian legislation that expands deportations and paints our immigrant neighbors as violent criminals.

Trump's executive orders call immigrants coming to our country seeking a better life an ``invasion.'' The only invasion we face is ICE coming into our communities to sow chaos, racially profile our neighbors, and tear our families apart.

This has nothing to do with public safety, it is about stoking fear and hate because they want to distract us from what is really happening.

Making the wealthy class richer.

Corporations are already celebrating.

Meant to keep us silent as this administration goes after every single marginalized group in our country.

Now is the time to resist this fearmongering, to stand with our immigrant neighbors and make it clear that our communities are stronger than those that hate us.

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