Budget Cuts Will Harm Families

Floor Speech

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I am here this morning to talk about what is happening here in Congress in regard to the budget proposal. I can't believe that many of my Republican colleagues, many of whom have larger numbers of folks on Medicaid, are proposing the largest cut to food assistance in the history of our country and the largest cut to Medicaid in the history of our country.

Many are actually denying that they are even cutting them. That is a slap in the face of so many people who depend on it.

Don't take it from me, Mr. Speaker, but take it from the Congressional Budget Office and many others who continue to say that nearly 14 million Americans will lose their healthcare, and thousands of people will be impacted by the proposal, the so-called reconciliation, that is going through this Chamber. We know that children and families will go hungry with this proposal.

Our residents can't simply stop being hungry or stop being sick, Mr. Speaker. For me, being on the front lines of a community that continues to get left behind with policies here in this Chamber, I know they feel very much that this budget is a betrayal to our families. If it wasn't bad enough, this all is being done to give trillions of dollars--not billions or millions, but trillions of dollars in tax breaks to the billionaire class and the largest corporations--corporations that do not need these tax breaks.

Don't worry, Mr. Speaker, there is a budget that got increased, which is the Pentagon and the defense budget. The war machine of the Pentagon budget can't pass an audit; seven audits in a row.

I read somewhere that in the most recent audit failure, the Pentagon could not account for one-half of its assets. One-half is hundreds of billions of dollars that are unaccounted for.

Many of my colleagues continue to talk about the deficit. I know this is a misnomer, but the Congressional Budget Office says that the deficit is being increased by $3.8 trillion.

Why isn't there this outcry regarding that number?

It only seems to be an outcry when we are trying to, again, feed children who are hungry or to help make sure that people, again, through no fault of their own getting sick, get covered by Medicaid.

The budget would cut crucial programs for the poor and working families. That is a fact. It is not being made up. It is right there. It is going to take food away from hungry children. It will let people die from the lack of healthcare coverage. They are even cutting, again, trillions of dollars so that we can continue to fund a budget that can't pass an audit.

One of the amendments that I am offering this morning, Mr. Speaker, is one of the ones that says: If the Pentagon can't pass an audit, then we shouldn't be able to fund them.

I really believe no money for Pentagon waste. The amendment would prevent any funds, again, being allocated to this.

Mr. Speaker, when you talk about waste and when you talk about fraud, you look at the Pentagon budget.

However, instead, what did we do? We went to the most vulnerable. We went to the hungry, and we went to the sick. Why?

It is because many of my colleagues in this Chamber own stock in war manufacturing, Mr. Speaker. That is a direct conflict of interest. So every time they increase the budget for defense, many of them are benefiting personally from that increase.

There are no increases to helping the poor or helping the hungry, many of whom are in both Republican and Democratic districts.

Again, many of my colleagues have a lot more people on Medicaid than my district does. Yet, here we are gaslighting and misleading the public and saying: We are not cutting it. We are not doing this or that.

How is that possible in the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan agency that many of my colleagues on the other side have quoted themselves, many of the people who are the so-called ``I am concerned about the deficit'' are increasing the deficit by $3.8 trillion. Put that aside, the cruelty of it.

Why can't we work on that? Infant mortality is a national crisis right now. We can do that by ensuring that Medicaid covers all prenatal and postnatal care.

Why can't we support that? Why can't we make sure prenatal and postnatal care are covered?

I know over 40 percent of births in our country are covered by Medicaid, Mr. Speaker. Again, I am trying to propose these amendments to highlight the fact that these are very critical programs no matter where an individual lives in our country.

We can also be ending child poverty and ensure that every child has the resources they need to reach their full potential. We should be talking about these critical issues, of funding these programs. It is our tax dollars going back to our neighbors who need it most.

Instead of voting to make life easier, they are supporting polluters, corporations, and billionaires who do not need it.

Please, I say to all my colleagues, they won't ask Speaker Johnson or the President why they voted this way.

They are going to ask you when you go back to your district. Please do the right thing.

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