Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong opposition to the reckless Republican budget, which is a betrayal of working-class Americans, middle-class Americans, children, seniors, and everyday Americans all across the country.

I thank the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Boyle), the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, for his leadership, all the members of the Budget Committee, and all the members of the House Democratic Caucus, who are standing up for the American people by opposing this reckless Republican budget that will devastate people all across the land.

It is not consistent with promises that were made to the American people. It is the exact opposite. Here is the promise that was made to the American people over and over again: Republicans were going to drive down the high cost of living in the United States of America and combat inflation. That was the promise that Republicans made to the American people.

As House Democrats, we are working hard to lower housing costs, lower grocery costs, lower insurance costs, lower utility costs, and lower childcare costs because we know America is too expensive. We want to drive down the high cost of living.

On the other side of the aisle, we haven't seen a single bill introduced by Republicans to drive down the high cost of living and address the affordability crisis in the United States. Not a single executive order issued by President Trump has anything to do with driving down the high cost of living. Not a single administrative action taken this year by the Trump administration has anything to do with driving down the high cost of living.

In fact, costs aren't going down in the United States of America. Costs are going up. Grocery prices are going up. Inflation is going up. Republicans are crashing the economy in real time.

Republicans have betrayed the American middle-class, working families, everyday Americans, children, and seniors with this $4.5 trillion budget scheme.

Don't come to the House floor and act like this is being done in the name of fiscal responsibility. Enough with that narrative. There is nothing in the Republican track record to suggest to the American people that you are the party of fiscal responsibility, absolutely nothing.

President Reagan comes into office. His signature legislative accomplishment is a massive unpaid-for tax cut for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected. What does it do? It increases the debt by $2 trillion. That is not fiscal responsibility. That is recklessness. That is your record.

Those kinds of fiscal policies continued for 8 years and carried over into the Presidency of George H.W. Bush. Then, we saw a massive debt handed over to President Bill Clinton. What do Democrats do with that massive debt? We turned that debt into a surplus over an 8-year period of time, and the economy exploded.

That is what fiscal responsibility looks like. That happened under President Bill Clinton. Stop saying to the American people that you are the party of fiscal responsibility. The facts say exactly the opposite.

A budget surplus was handed over to President George W. Bush, who proceeded, in 2001 and then again in 2003, to pass massive tax cuts-- same playbook; here we go again--massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected. That explodes the debt by $8 trillion, and at the same time, we have a failed war in Iraq and a failed war in Afghanistan, over time adding another $8 trillion to our Nation's debt.

That burden is handed over to President Barack Obama, but during the period of his time in office, when he had a $1.5 trillion deficit, he cut it by $1 trillion, despite the fact that he also inherited from Republicans the Great Recession and had to turn things around. He cut the deficit by $1 trillion, from $1.5 trillion to $500 billion. You asked about numbers. Here are the numbers.

Then, that gets handed over to President Trump in his first term. He proceeded, of course, to follow the same Republican playbook, which has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility and everything to do with massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected.

Republicans passed the GOP tax scam with 83 percent of the benefits set aside for the wealthiest 1 percent and, in connection with the GOP tax scam, exploded the debt by another $2 trillion that they force working families, middle-class folks, and everyday Americans to pay for.

Republicans are not the party of fiscal responsibility. Stop trying to convince the American people otherwise. It is the same playbook.

In fact, during the administration of Donald Trump during his first 4 years, the debt exploded to such a degree that 25 percent or so of our Nation's debt came from just the first term of President Donald Trump, 25 percent. We have been around for over 248 years. The party of fiscal responsibility?

Then, of course, President Biden inherits a significant deficit and overwhelming debt in his 2 years. The first 2 years he gets a lot done and cuts the deficit by $1.7 trillion.

There is still a lot of work for all of us to do, but do not pretend that this budget resolution has anything to do with fiscal responsibility or keeping their promises to the American people. The Republicans promised to lower the high cost of living and have done nothing about it.

So here we are again, and there they go again with this GOP tax scam, the same exact playbook, $4.5 trillion worth of cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected disproportionately to benefit billionaire donors and well-connected corporations.

To make matters worse, the Republicans would actually cut programs, cut the social safety net, and cut the things that matter to working- class Americans, middle-class Americans, young people, seniors, and others, including up to, if not more, $880 billion of cuts to Medicaid. That is the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.

It doesn't help working-class Americans. It doesn't help middle-class Americans. It doesn't help children, and it doesn't help older Americans. It will devastate them. It will devastate children, devastate people with disabilities, devastate seniors, devastate pregnant women all across the country, devastate nursing homes, and shut down nursing homes. It will shut down hospitals, including in rural America, urban America, small-town America, and the heartland of America. That is what the Republican budget betrayal is all about.

It will devastate supplemental nutritional assistance programs for our children, for our veterans, and for our families. That is what the Republican budget is all about. It has nothing to do with making life better for everyday Americans. It will hurt everyday Americans.

So Democrats are not going to provide this reckless Republican scheme, this out-of-control budget, a single vote, not a single vote, because we are standing on the side of the American people.

We will fight this reckless Republican budget today, we will fight this reckless Republican budget tomorrow, and we will fight this reckless Republican budget until it is buried deep in the ground never to rise again. We will stand on the side of the American people at all times.

Mr. Chair, vote ``no''.

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