Gulf of America Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding the time, and I rise in opposition to this farcical bill.

I thought I would share what I am hearing from my neighbors across the Gulf Coast. They want policymakers in Washington, D.C., to tackle the cost of living. During this Republican-led Congress, there has not been one bill brought to the floor of the House--and here we are in May--to lower the cost of living for families along the Gulf Coast and all across America.

In fact, what the Republicans have been focusing on is a massive tax giveaway to billionaires like Elon Musk while they rip away healthcare from millions of Americans.

In Florida, we have about 4.6 million Floridians who rely on the Affordable Care Act for their healthcare and about 3.9 million Floridians who rely on Medicaid. These are the family members we love the most, kids with complex conditions, seniors in skilled nursing, seniors who want to live in dignity in their homes with a home health aide.

However, is their priority to make people's lives easier, to make people's lives better? No. It has been totally focused on how you rip that away and make people's lives more expensive.

It also means for the Gulf Coast we are still reeling from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, just like other parts of the country, in Georgia and North Carolina. We don't need Elon Musk creating turmoil and firing civil servants and public servants who are helping us rebuild. We do not need the Trump administration making people's lives harder to rebuild and harder to afford to stay in their homes.

We are preparing for another hurricane season. Folks along the Gulf Coast need a National Weather Service that is functional that can warn us about the threats ahead. We need the hurricane hunters out in the Gulf telling us how severe the storms are going to be, but the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress seem to be turning away from the people along the Gulf Coast and all across America to understand the threat of a warming climate.

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. You started this by saying that Gulf of America started as a joke. This is not a joke to the people I represent. They want help. They want help with the cost of living.

It seems like that is the last priority on Republicans' list. Instead, they want to give a massive tax giveaway to the wealthy and the well-connected while people really need help with their pocketbooks. They need help. They want to retain their healthcare. They want to make sure that the ocean waters are free of pollution.

Please vote ``no'' and focus on what is important.

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