Rescissions Act of 2025

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I am opposed to this bill to aid and abet billionaires in stealing from the American people and which does nothing to help the American people with the cost of living.

Since taking office, President Trump and Elon Musk unlawfully have stolen funds appropriated by Congress, passed by Republicans and Democrats in the House and in the Senate, and signed into law by the President, upending the separation of powers and our constitutional order.

For what end?

It is to hand billionaires and the biggest corporations, who already pay little or no taxes, another massive tax break. It is 4.5 trillion of taxpayers' dollars.

Do the Republicans want to talk about wasting taxpayer dollars?

This money is going to the wealthiest people and the biggest corporations. That is where they should save the money.

They want to make our government so broken, so dysfunctional, so starved for resources, and so full of incompetent political lackeys and bereft of experts and professionals that its departments and agencies cannot feasibly achieve the goals and the missions to which they are lawfully directed. That is where we are going.

Ultimately, they want to embrace privatization and give the biggest companies unchecked power. They want to rig the economy against the middle class, workers, and vulnerable families. They want to ensure the American people have no faith in the ability of government to do good in their lives.

Mr. Speaker, there is no inherent authority for the President to impound and steal funds, and there never has been. I don't care if the President is Republican or Democrat. The late Justices Scalia and Rehnquist said so. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh have said so. By the way, they are no liberal torchbearers.

The Department of Justice and the Government Accountability Office have said so. Over 200 years of American history say so. Our Founding Fathers designed our government so.

Alexander Hamilton said: ``But where the purse is lodged in one branch, and the sword in another, there can be no danger.'' The power of the purse resides in the United States Congress.

This rescissions package dated May 28, submitted June 3, 134 days after the President began unlawfully freezing funding, is an admission by President Trump and Russ Vought that they are breaking the law by impounding $425 billion in appropriated funds across the government. They do not care about the consequences for Americans.

This is a bill to codify the rights of billionaires and to rubberstamp the right of billionaires to steal from rural and vulnerable American communities, children, and the global poor, for the sake of handing even more money to billionaires. Congress needs to fight for the middle class, for the working class, and for the most vulnerable, not to protect the interests of billionaires and big corporations.

Members considering voting for this own the reckless cuts done by Elon Musk.

This is a bill to shut down rural television and radio stations, cutting off coverage of local news, eliminating emergency information like severe weather alerts, and jeopardizing access to PBS KIDS children's programs like ``Sesame Street.''

This is a bill to rip lifesaving support away from the hungry, displaced, and sick people in developing countries and conflict zones across the globe and to end programs that treat deadly diseases and prevent pandemics.

This is a bill to abandon the people of Ukraine while they resist Putin's tyranny.

This is a bill to cut $400 million from PEPFAR, a paragon of American leadership that has saved the lives of 26 million mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. Instead of facing a death sentence, people supported by PEPFAR are raising families, building their communities, and helping their communities grow and develop.

This is a bill that puts America last. When we retreat from the world diplomatically and through our assistance to vulnerable people, then America will be alone, without allies, and in a less stable world without the support of the international community.

Mr. Speaker, do you know who will come out ahead?

China, Russia, and Iran. When people in need see bags of food and flour coming through that say USA, that shows the power of the United States. That now will be traded for food aid from China.

We are here today considering cuts after months of unlawful impoundment, stealing, that will conceal a Republican reconciliation bill to make the billionaires in America even more rich and increase the debt by $3 trillion. Mr. Speaker, you increase the debt. You rip health insurance away from at least 16 million Americans.

This bill rescinds $9.4 billion, which Congress just appropriated not even 3 months ago. Now the President is asking the Congress to rubberstamp its proposal to steal from the American people without concern for the consequences. This bill does nothing to help the American people with the cost of living. The President said he was going to bring it down on the first day. He has done nothing but make it worse.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose this bill which forfeits our global leadership, undermines national security, and steals from the American people to hand more wealth to billionaires.

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Ms. DeLAURO. Pingree), the distinguished ranking member of the Interior and Environmental Subcommittee of Appropriations.

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Ms. DeLAURO. Jayapal).

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Ms. DeLAURO. Clark), the distinguished Democratic whip.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Lois Frankel), the distinguished ranking member of the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Subcommittee.

Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in fierce opposition to the Republicans' reckless rescission bill, a backdoor scheme to claw back critical Federal funding that protects America's global leadership, public safeguards, and trusted public broadcasting, all while bypassing congressional constitutional authority.

Let's be clear: This is not a budget tweak. It is an attack on our values; a direct hit to our national health, safety, and prosperity; and a green light for authoritarian overreach.

This package guts essential investments in international development and humanitarian programs, lifesaving tools that fight disease, prevent terrorism, supports democracy, and open markets for American businesses.

Here is the kicker, Mr. Speaker: Congress approved this funding just 2 months ago, and Donald Trump signed it into law. Now, Republicans want to rip it back to cover up the massive hole they are blowing in the deficit with tax giveaways for billionaires. Their so-called fiscal responsibility comes at the expense of starving children, crumbling democracies, and public-private partnerships that channel American innovation to solve the world's toughest challenges.

Mr. Speaker, foreign assistance, which has long represented just about 1 percent of our national budget, is not charity. It is strategy.

Don't take my word for it. Military leaders from both parties have warned us for years. If we fail to lead with soft power, we will end up paying in blood, bombs, and more boots on the ground.

Cutting foreign assistance will: deepen desperation, fuel extremism, and push fragile societies toward collapse. When that happens, we all pay the price. Refugee crises will surge. Diseases will spread, and trade routes will shut down. Our troops and diplomats face greater danger, and our homeland security is weakened.

Here is an example of what is on the chopping block: PEPFAR, which has saved over 26 million lives and nearly 8 million babies from being born with HIV; food assistance, which stabilizes communities and creates agricultural markets; and public-private partnerships that channel American innovation to solve the world's toughest challenges.

Let's talk about what happens when we pull back. When the United States steps away, others step in and not with good intentions. China is flooding developing countries with infrastructure loans and digital surveillance systems. Russia is exporting mercenaries and disinformation. While we are debating whether to send a bag of rice or a clean water pump, our adversaries are buying influence, forging military alliances, and rewriting the rules of global engagement.

This is not theoretical. This is happening right now. Let's take Africa, for example, a region poised to become one-quarter of the world's population. U.S. assistance has helped build stability there through nutrition programs, education, and public health. If we walk away now, we are not just abandoning our values. We are surrendering one of the world's fastest growing marketplaces to China.

Let's be clear: Regions we assist aren't just aid recipients. They are emerging economies and future trading partners. Pulling back opens the door for authoritarian regimes like China to dominate the future, commerce, connectivity, and development.

This is not just cruel. It is strategically self-defeating and economically foolish.

Make no mistake, this rescission package is Project 2025 in action-- dismantling our institutions, silencing oversight, and handing U.S. global leadership over to the dictators on a silver platter, leaving us alone in the world.

This bill attempts to rubberstamp the Trump administration's illegal actions, blocking funding already approved by Congress, firing career public servants, and hollowing out entire agencies.

Let's be honest. These are not going to lower the costs for American families. It is not going to reduce the deficit, but it will make the world more dangerous.

It will make Americans less safe and less prosperous.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' on this bill.

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Ms. DeLAURO. Kelly).

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Ms. DeLAURO. Kamlager-Dove).

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, President Trump promised to bring down the cost of living. He made it worse. He is illegally stealing congressionally approved taxpayer dollars, and these are services for the American people.

If my colleagues want to deal with waste, fraud, and abuse, they have to deal with cutting back on the $4.5 trillion tax cut for billionaires that the Republicans supported and voted on, tax cuts for billionaires and the biggest corporations.

If my colleagues vote for this bill, they own every reckless cut crafted by Elon Musk. They are rubberstamping illegal cuts, and they own it.

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