Gop Tax Scam Hurts Everyone

Floor Speech

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Ms. BALINT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Schrier, and I am happy to be here.

Just this morning, President Trump said that the Republicans aren't cutting anything meaningful in their budget. What a thing to say. What a shocking thing to say when these cuts will hurt so many Americans. I am having a really hard time understanding how taking away healthcare from nearly 14 million Americans isn't meaningful.

It is not meaningful that rural hospitals across Vermont and across this country are going to be at risk of closing?

Just today I met with Vermonters from a little town called Coventry, and they are deeply concerned that they are going to lose access to labor and delivery healthcare at their local hospital.

Republicans are so out of touch with the reality of American families right now, and it is shocking to call these cuts not meaningful when their bill will hurt working families.

It takes away food and healthcare from millions and millions of people, their own voters, but yet they are not meaningful cuts.

These cuts are certainly meaningful for all the kids and veterans who will go hungry because of this cruel and what I think is a very cynical bill.

Why are my Republican colleagues making the cuts?

That is what we all want to know.

It is to give the very wealthy another big tax cut and deliver tax breaks to billionaires and corporations, people who absolutely don't need any more assistance.

It is taking that money from people who desperately need help and giving away to the people who don't.

People who are just struggling to get by are having precious resources taken away from them.

Right now, across this country, Americans are trying to figure out the math. Are they going to be able to afford groceries for their kids? They are trying to decide whether they can afford to go to the doctor.

While that is happening, in real time, my colleagues are spending time demanding more work requirements for Medicaid recipients when we know that almost half of adults on Medicaid are already working. They act like they are not working. They are working, and 27 percent of those working-age adults on Medicaid are disabled. They are doing the best they can here.

It couldn't be more obvious that they are just looking to remove more people from the Medicaid rolls in order to have more money to give tax breaks to billionaires and corporations. It is sick.

These are real people who we are talking about tonight in every congressional district who cannot handle these cuts. It is as simple as that.

The reality is that Americans can't pay for their rent right now. They can't pay for their groceries. They are too high. Prescription drug prices are too high. Costs for consumers and small businesses are just going to go up because of the asinine tariff regime that we have been dealt.

Of course, Americans feel like it is rigged against them because it is. That is why we have to be here fighting for them. That is why we have to be here, raising the alarm about what is happening in this bill with Medicaid.

What Americans want is fairness. What they need is fairness. We owe them that. They want and need affordable healthcare, and we owe them that. They want and need a fair shot, a better life for their kids, and we owe them that.

This bill that cuts Medicaid is a statement of values. It shows exactly what and who the Republicans are caring about. It is not you and your family. It is not me and mine. It is about propping up billionaires and kicking the rest of us in the teeth while they do it.

What kind of leaders take away healthcare and food from working people so that the wealthy can get even more money? What kind of leaders? Not strong leaders, not leaders of conscience.

It is shameful.

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