Defending Social Services and Programs

Floor Speech

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the leadership of Congresswoman Ramirez, who has led with her own lived experiences and her compassion. She leads with compassion, which I think is sometimes missing here in this Chamber.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans are advancing, as we all know, a budget that includes $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. These are folks who do not fully understand what it means to live paycheck to paycheck. Mr. Speaker, 60 percent of our residents in our country live paycheck to paycheck.

Just so we are clear, the $880 billion cut to Medicaid is the largest Medicaid cut in American history. There are 72 million people who rely on Medicaid for healthcare in our Nation, including 40 percent of people in Speaker Johnson's own district.

Mr. Speaker, for families, seniors, and people with disabilities who rely on Medicaid, it is the difference between life and death. Yet, right now, the future of Medicaid is under threat.

I have heard many of my Republican colleagues in this Chamber try to gaslight the American people and claim that the budget does not make cuts to Medicaid. Senator Hawley, as we know, just offered an amendment to the same legislation right now that came through this Chamber to strip the $880 billion in Medicaid cuts out of that bill.

It was voted down by Members of his own party. The amendment literally said: To strike the section related to reconciliation instructions to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives to cut $880 billion from Medicaid.

The Senator's Republican colleagues in the Senate voted it down, so let's be honest with the American people. If Republicans are going to cut their healthcare, be honest about it. Don't gaslight and try to pretend.

Those who rely on Medicaid aren't just a number. They are our neighbors. They are our friends. They are our families. They depend on Medicaid for health services, treatment, and medication that they simply cannot afford due to our broken healthcare system.

Make no mistake. Republicans want to give away trillions of dollars, Mr. Speaker, let's be honest, to the richest people in our Nation, like Elon Musk and all of President Trump's friends, and let children and seniors die from the lack of healthcare coverage.

As the chair of the Congressional Mamas' Caucus, I need to bring this to light because this is important when we talk about Medicaid.

Mr. Speaker, Black Maternal Health Week begins on April 11, and Michigan has one of the highest Black maternal mortality rates in our Nation. Medicaid plays a critical role in supporting maternal health, covering a significant portion of births in our country and providing access to healthcare for pregnant women and postpartum individuals, including prenatal care and postpartum services.

Black women, we know, are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than White women. This is absolutely unacceptable. We must address it at the Federal level. Yet, here we are, Mr. Speaker, because we have systems right in place and institutions have failed our folks, but here we are saying: We are also going to take away your healthcare coverage.

Cutting Medicaid, again, is going to be a life-or-death situation for our families, including birthing women. It is a result, of course, we know, of different broken systems.

Yet, at this moment, when we know we have a crisis in the mortality rate, we have a crisis of Black maternal health, and we have a crisis in our healthcare system, it is a broken system. It is sick care, not healthcare. Here we are watching, again, folks choose billionaires over the people who elected them.

We must raise our voices, and I am glad and so incredibly happy to be serving with my sister in service, Representative Ramirez. We must raise our voices again because we have to defeat this dangerous Republican budget. Again, our residents deserve better.

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