Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, let me also thank the distinguished gentleman from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Representative Boyle, who is doing a tremendous job leading House Democrats on the Budget Committee.

Yesterday, I urged the Speaker to join me on the House floor to debate this reckless budget one-on-one so we would have an opportunity to fully air, in a transparent way before the American people, Democratic values and Republican values, the Democratic perspective on this budget and the Republican perspective.

I am on the House floor right now. I am ready to debate one-on-one, prepared to yield to the Speaker for colloquy at any time so we can discuss the Democratic vision for building an affordable economy that lowers costs and makes life better for the American people and the Republican budget proposal that would enact the largest Medicaid cut in American history in order to pass massive tax breaks for Republicans' billionaire donors like Elon Musk.

Mr. Speaker, I am ready to yield. I am ready to debate one-on-one on this House floor. I promise not to rebuke him in the name of Jesus.

Here in America, we were told by Donald Trump and House Republicans, that they were going to lower the high cost of living for everyday Americans. In fact, we were told that Republicans were going to do it on day one, and it hasn't happened.

President Trump and House Republicans told us that they were going to deliver the golden age of America. Over the last several months, we haven't witnessed the golden age of America. We have witnessed a rotten age.

They are crashing the economy in real time, driving us toward a Republican recession that is going to hurt children, hurt families, hurt seniors, hurt everyday Americans, hurt veterans, and hurt people across the land.

Republicans haven't done anything to address the high cost of living. As Democrats, we recognize that America is too expensive. The cost of living in this great country is far too high. Housing costs are too high. Grocery costs are too high. Insurance costs are too high. Utility costs are too high. Childcare costs are too high. America is too expensive. We should be working to lower the high cost of living.

Far too many people in this country can't get ahead, and they can barely get by, struggling to make ends meet, living paycheck to paycheck. We should be acting decisively to address the high cost of living.

President Trump promised costs would go down on day one. Costs aren't going down. They are going up. Inflation is going up. Consumer confidence is coming down.

These reckless policies, including the Trump tariffs, are driving us toward a recession. On top of it all, Republicans are presenting a budget that is going to make things worse.

I stand here today in strong opposition to this reckless Republican budget. It is a cruel budget. It is a budget that will have catastrophic consequences on everyday Americans.

It is an assault on the economy. It is an assault on Medicaid, an assault on healthcare, and an assault on nutritional assistance to children and families. It is an assault on older Americans and an assault on hospitals, nursing homes, and community health centers. It is an assault on veterans. That is why we reject it, because we are going to stand on the side of the American people.

Now, there are so many different problems with this budget resolution, but let's begin with the fact that Republicans are setting in motion the largest Medicaid cut in American history. That is going to hurt people all across this country. In small-town America, in urban America, in rural America, in the heartland of America, in Appalachia, all across this country, people will be hurt.

Healthcare will be taken away from children, pregnant women, everyday Americans with disabilities, older Americans, people in nursing homes, and people who are receiving long-term care. Nursing homes will close. That will impact everybody in a given community. Hospitals will shut down in rural America and small-town America all across America. The largest Medicaid cut in American history is completely and totally unacceptable.

In the same period of time, targeting nutritional assistance for children, infants, women, families, veterans, and older Americans, literally taking food out of the mouths of babies in the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, this is why we say it is a cruel budget. It is a callous budget. It is a budget that will have catastrophic consequences.

Veterans will be hurt, people who have served this country admirably. They stood up for us. We should always stand up for them, not target them, as will be the case in this reckless Republican budget.

Democrats are here to make it clear: Hands off Medicaid. Hands off the healthcare of the United States of America. Hands off nutritional assistance. Hands off veterans. Hands off everyday Americans struggling to make ends meet.

Republicans do nothing to lower the high cost of living. In fact, they are making the affordability crisis in America worse, not better. Then, they target earned benefits and things that are important to the American people, like Medicaid, to visit upon it such an extreme cut. What are they doing it for? What is it in service of? All to pass massive tax breaks for their billionaire donors like Elon Musk. The President himself has made that clear. At the end of the day, that is what this is all about. How extraordinary is that?

As Democrats, we support tax cuts for everyday Americans, tax cuts for small businesses, tax cuts for family farmers, and tax cuts for those who need relief, not tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected.

I stand in strong opposition to this GOP tax scam. The reason why, Mr. Speaker, I have said let's debate this on the House floor directly through a colloquy, transparently, is to make it clear to the American people where we stand and where Republicans stand at such a fragile moment with so many people in this country struggling to make ends meet.

House Democrats are going to continue to stand on the side of the American people. We are going to stand on the side of our children, of our families, of our veterans, of older Americans, of everyone aspiring to achieve the American Dream, stand up in defense of Medicaid, stand up in defense of veterans' benefits, stand up in defense of nutritional assistance, stand up in defense of economic opportunity and a fair tax code that is designed to build an economy that actually works for everyday Americans as opposed to an economy of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires.

That is why Democrats strongly oppose this reckless Republican budget resolution and will not rest until we bury it in the ground, never to rise again.

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