Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chair, this budget resolution begins the process of delivering on President Trump's agenda, and that agenda is clear. It is securing the border. It is unleashing economic growth. It is providing efficiency and accountability in government. It is reining in reckless spending that spurred record inflation.

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue to talk about the harmful provisions within this resolution. In reality, this is the beginning of the process. It is the beginning of a course correction as desperately needed following 4 years of policy that placed America in a position of excess and decline.

Speaking of excess, since President Trump's first term, increased enrollment and exploitation of the 2018 farm bill by the Biden administration ballooned the annual spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by 66 percent at a total cost of $256 billion, leaving workers on the sidelines while small businesses paying record wages struggle to find help.

This egregious executive overreach not only violated the Congressional Review Act but likely reduced the fraction of people participating in the workforce and contributed to inflation.

Mr. Chair, we must meet the vital supplemental food needs of Americans that Congress committed to fulfill through SNAP, and we will. We cannot allow excess or lack of accountability within the bureaucracy, though, to compromise fulfilling that obligation.

Thoughtful policies that recognize the value of work, hold states accountable, promote program integrity, and in the long run protect the safety net for those Americans who truly need it should be our priority.

At the same time, we must use this process to advance the needs of the farm economy. We cannot leave our most ardent supporters in rural America without new resources and empty-handed for a third year.

House Republicans have a mandate to restore America's faith in government and we will protect hardworking taxpayers, preventing the largest tax increase in American history. We will provide for the neediest among us while simultaneously delivering a foundation for economic growth and prosperity.

Mr. Chair, let us ensure America is once again the land of opportunity and thriving communities. Passage of this resolution is one step in that process.

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