Providing for Consideration of H.J. Res. Providing for Congressional Disapproval of the Rule Submitted By the Department of Energy Relating to ``Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Gas-Fired Instantaneous Water Heaters''; Providing for Consideration of H.J. Res. Providing for Congressional Disapproval of the Rule Submitted By the Environmental Protection Agency Relating to ``Waste Emissions Charge for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems: Procedures for Facilitating Compliance, Including Netting and Exemptions''; and Providing for Consideration of H. Con. Res. Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2025

Floor Speech

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Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his exuberant presentation of opposition to this budget. I thank him for all the amendments he proposed to improve upon it. Sadly, the Republicans didn't accept just one.

Here we go again. The last time the Republicans had a majority in the House and Senate and President Trump in the White House, they passed a terrible bill that was a tax cut for the rich that gave 83 percent of the benefits to the wealthiest people, the top 1 percent in our country, and added $2 trillion to the national debt.

This year, they are doubling down on that, $4 trillion to the national debt, and they call that fiscal sanity. They are doing it by steering taxpayer dollars from Medicaid to give additional tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations.

People think of Medicaid sometimes as a poor children's program, and that would be sufficient justification for it all, but it is a middle- income benefit. Seniors who need long-term healthcare need Medicaid.

Members should listen to their constituents and hear what they have to say about what it means to their fiscal well-being. Listen to constituents. The numbers are staggering.

By voting for this cruel bill, they are betraying hardworking Americans by raising costs for all those already struggling to make ends meet. The President said he was going to reduce the cost of living. He didn't. He said he would reduce inflation. He didn't.

Mr. Speaker, indeed a vote for this budget is a vote against Medicaid, ripping away healthcare from children, people with disabilities, and seniors. It is a vote against SNAP, as the distinguished chairman indicated, taking food out of the mouths of babies.

They do that with glee while President Trump and congressional Republicans are choosing to protect billionaires, by the way, who benefit from Medicaid with people cleaning their homes.

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Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, we are led and unified by Hakeem Jeffries. We are united in our commitment to work for working families. That is why I urge a ``no'' vote on this extreme measure, and I thank the distinguished chairman for his leadership.

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