Chaos, Confusion, and Manufactured Crises

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I am proud to stand here as vice chair of the New Democrat Coalition to make it clear that we are here, 5 weeks into this new Congress, fighting to end the chaos of this new administration and get us back to what the American people elected us to do: lowering costs, promoting safer communities, and actually governing.

The American people elected us to tackle the cost of living, not cut public education. The American people elected us to lower the price of groceries, not declare trade wars with allies that will raise those prices for Americans even further.

Mr. Speaker, the American people elected us to ensure their communities are protected, not give billionaires back doors into their personal data. I want the American people to see this, this room. This room is empty. The majority has gone home for the night. We have not even tackled one bill this whole week to deal with the high costs.

This is a coequal branch of government, but my colleagues seem content to give up our congressional power of the purse. Where is the so-called party of law and order? That party is willing to look the other way on enforcing the law, like the laws that protect funding approved by Congress into law.

The self-proclaimed party of law and order is willing to let chaos reign, and thousands of Americans see the funding they rely on to get frozen, their benefits put on the chopping block, and even their jobs eliminated by an unelected billionaire.

My constituents are crying out for us to do something, and I want to ensure them that we are doing something. We are here even as they get ready to turn off the lights. We are working to craft legislation that will block rightwing activists and the use of our power in this Chamber to halt all the efforts to deny the law and promote chaos over order.

New Dems are the tip of the spear. We will fight ill-conceived tariffs and plots to raise taxes to pay for tax cuts for the richest people in our country. We will fight invasions of our privacy. Of course, we will fight to deliver what we hear every single day: Lower the costs of living, make our communities safer, and stop the chaos and gridlock.

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