Republican Budget Betrayal
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, today the Congressional Hispanic Caucus comes to the floor united as one unit against this Republican budget resolution that slashes at least 1 trillion--that is right, 1 trillion with a capital T--dollars from Medicaid and other essential programs to the American people, to working-class families, to seniors, and to children, threatening 80 million individuals.
This is a matter of life and death, Mr. Speaker. It is a matter of life and death for our communities. At the very least, 20 million Latinos, about one-third of our folks, rely on Medicaid. More than one- half of the Latinos on Medicaid are children. They depend on it.
Many of them are Hispanic, and they will now have to face a precarious situation where they may get an asthma attack at school and maybe that school-based clinic is not open for those critical first minutes of aid.
Many of them are diabetics, and they rely heavily on insulin, and they may not have the Medicaid coverage for insulin to save their lives.
So this is a matter of life and death, Mr. Speaker. This is not just a regular bill that we do in this august body to feel good or to maybe take care of a specific issue in a particular State. This is a matter of life and death.
You have Latinos with renal problems, and cardiovascular problems. High blood pressure is at epidemic levels in the Latino community. This bill, again, presents a situation of life or death for many constituents across the country and the ones whom I represent in New York's 13th Congressional District, where over 500,000 residents of that district rely on Medicaid and over 100,000 rely on Medicare. So over 600,000 of the 780,000 people I represent are either on Medicaid or Medicare. This bill presents a clear and present threat to their health and to their lives.
In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, Republicans also seek to cut $230 billion in nutritional programs like SNAP and food stamps. That is right. Food stamps are being cut that currently aid 10 million Latinos, including 5 million kids. These nutritional programs are essential to their health and growth. So we are here pushing back on the cuts to food stamps.
In my district, Mr. Speaker, there are over 200,000 households that rely on food stamps. If we multiply that by an average of three people per household, we can do the math, and we can see that it will devastate that community. This budget proposal by Republicans seeks to cut, again, $230 billion in nutritional programs.
The $200 billion in this budget also seeks to supercharge Trump's massive deportation plan which will decimate the agricultural workforce by 16 percent and lead to increased food prices. Mr. Speaker, you can expect food prices at the cash register in the supermarket to go dramatically up. This is egregious.
We are united in opposition to this betrayal, the Republican budget betrayal. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus stands at once and together in opposition to this Republican budget betrayal.
CHC is committed to protecting Dreamers. Those are young people on average that have been in our Nation for over 20 years. They are nurses and teachers. They are bus drivers. They are members of the Armed Forces. They own their own small businesses, they own their own homes, and yet we cannot regularize their status. We support Dreamers.
We are in support of farmworkers. They have to pick the crops and the fruits that come to our dinner table, and many of them are staying home in fear of being deported. Mr. Speaker, you can expect food prices to go up.
Of course, we are in support of keeping families together. A family that is divided, when a mom or a dad is split from his or her children, that family is a weak family. They become vulnerable, and that translates into a weak nation and a vulnerable nation.
So CHC, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is in support of Dreamers, farmworkers, and keeping families together.
Latinos voted in favor of lowering costs and increasing wages. The budget passed last night only gives billionaires tax cuts and funds indiscriminate raids in our city, all paid for by working-class families.
Again, Mr. Speaker, CHC stands with our community and rejects the Republican budget betrayal.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, we stood here tonight to warn the American people of these massive cuts in vital programs like the Medicaid program, SNAP, and the Food Stamp program, which provides nutritional assistance to our families, as the Republican majority perpetrates a scam to provide the very wealthiest of Americans a $4.5 trillion tax cut at the expense of the health of the American people by cutting Medicaid.
Medicaid is a vital program for Americans all over the United States. It is not just urban areas, but rural areas and suburban areas from the North, the South, the East, and the West of the country.
Americans will be dramatically impacted by these cuts. This is not a Republican cut or a Democratic cut. It will impact people across the aisle. Republican Members have many constituents who are on Medicaid and Medicare and who receive SNAP benefits. Yet, the savings will go to the fat-cat executives and shareholders, the wealthiest in America.
Mr. Speaker, we are asking for the American people to be alert of the Republican budget betrayal, that it is a life-or-death matter and puts their lives in danger by denying them the basic healthcare benefits that they are entitled to.
Mr. Speaker, we stand here as one, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, to say ``no'' to this plan and to tell the American people that they are not alone and that we are with them in good times and in bad times.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source