Protecting Our Nation's Capital Emergency Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. STANSBURY. Madam Speaker, today I rise to oppose this attack on our Nation's Capital.

I remind everyone that 1 week ago today, Donald Trump was in the most epic breakup of probably a generation. He and Elon Musk were fighting it out on Twitter and Truth Social, going back and forth. What was Donald Trump's response? Was it an in-earnest response to the actual attacks that were coming toward him as his actual agenda was sinking here in the House, as Elon Musk was taking to Twitter for days trying to take down his signature bill, his big abomination of a bill that would strip healthcare away from millions of Americans, Medicaid and Medicare, that would take food out of the mouths of millions of American children, that would cut programs that people across this country use to advance their education and that would blow a hole through the United States' deficit on a scale we have never seen before?

Just a week ago, Elon Musk was tweeting ``KILL the BILL,'' and in the days after was posting incriminating tweets not only about the President, but about the GOP and their ability to win and hold this House.

What was the President's response? Did he respond to these allegations? Did he rush to stop Republicans from trying to cover their tracks who had been lying for weeks about the nature of this bill and how it would gut our healthcare to millions of Americans, and how it would cause our Nation to spend generations of debt on the backs of the American people so that billionaires could get another small tax break? No. What he did was deploy ICE to make mass arrests and terrorize families in Los Angeles.

When people went to go exercise their First Amendment rights, he deployed the National Guard and then the United States Marines against the American people.

This is not only a distraction, this is a direct abuse of power because the reality of what was actually going on in this Chamber a week ago is that these people were trying to take away Americans' healthcare and food assistance, and Donald Trump was getting heat from his ex-boyfriend. Then what did he do? He deployed the United States military against Americans.

What is the GOP doing this week on this House floor? They are attacking the sovereignty and home rule of the people of the city of Washington, D.C.

I think it should not take anyone by surprise as Donald Trump is preparing to have the largest military parade in generations on his birthday here in this city that the three bills they are trying to pass on this House floor are directly attacking the city that is the capital of this great Nation, that is attacking policing and attacking home rule of this city. That is what these bills are all about.

They are a distraction. They are about taking over the self- governance of the city of Washington, D.C., and they are about taking away the power of the people.

I think it is important to understand that as the Washington, D.C., Delegate, Ms. Norton, just said, this is also about stripping the people of D.C. of vital reforms that came in the wake of George Floyd's death.

What is this all really about? What is this in service of? Is this really about making the Capital City more safe? No, it is not. In fact, it is about making it less safe for the people of Washington, D.C., who live here, who work here every day of their lives and, frankly, who take care of the rest of us who come here to work on behalf of our people.

This is not about public safety. This is about taking away vital reforms. It is about taking away home rule of Washington, D.C., and it is about taking away, once again, the rights of the people of this city.

I am proud to stand with the people of D.C. in opposing all three of these bills and to get us refocused on the real issues of this country and what is actually happening in this Chamber right now, which is that all of these guys sitting around here today are trying to take away your healthcare.

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