One Big Beautiful Bill Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, here we are again--Yogi Berra once said that it is deja vu all over again--debating this bill in the middle of the night. This crowd must love prime time in Guam.

This has been the worst process of the worst bill I have ever seen during my decade in Congress.

This is not what our Founders intended--far from it. While the process stinks, the substance is even worse. The bill still kicks 17 million Americans off their healthcare and makes record cuts to Medicaid, record cuts to the Affordable Care Act, and record cuts to Medicare.

That is not all. It kicks off 4\1/2\ million from nutrition assistance, mostly seniors and children. Why? It is to help subsidize massive tax cuts that mostly go to the top 1 percent.

Of course, all of those cuts, over $1.5 trillion worth, don't come close to paying for the more than $5 trillion worth of tax cuts. Who pays the remainder? Our national credit card does.

Here we are, actually voting not just for the biggest loss of healthcare in American history, but the biggest increase in our national debt in American history.

Mr. Speaker, I have no idea what in the world the crowd that was holding out got for holding out. Does anyone know? It is a complete mystery to me and to the American people, but one thing is clear. There is one group making out as a result of this bill: the billionaire class.

Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss this big, disgusting billionaire bailout bill.

This year, I have traveled the State of New Jersey, hearing from the constituents of my three GOP colleagues.

I spoke to some of the 178,000 people in Representative Van Drew's district on NJ FamilyCare who will lose their coverage; some parents of the nearly 100,000 children in Representative Smith's district who are at risk of losing their NJ FamilyCare health coverage; and some of the 11,000 seniors in Representative Kean's district who are worried about their nursing homes having to shut down.

What I heard from all of those constituents in those three districts was that they are very disappointed that they were not able to communicate with their Representatives because their Representatives were hiding from them because they could not justify their support of this big, disgusting billionaire bailout.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues from New Jersey to listen to their constituents and vote ``no.'' May God forgive those who do not do for the least among us.

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Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Balint), a distinguished member of the House Committee on the Budget.
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Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time remains on each side.
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Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Kaptur), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.

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Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Craig), the ranking member of the Agriculture Committee.

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Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Pelosi), the Speaker emerita of the House.

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Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

This has been a very long day after many, many days that have stretched into the night to the following morning, such as this one, after a very long 6 months on this bill.

What really matters in these next few moments is that the decision we have been entrusted by the American people to make will have ramifications for millions of our fellow Americans and indeed for our country for decades to come.

There may not be a lot of people able to watch at 4:05 in the morning, but in just a few short hours, some of them on Medicaid will be waking up and turning on the news to find out if what we did here tonight means they are about to lose it. Some of the people who get their healthcare from the ACA exchanges will be turning on their TV to find out what we have done in these next few minutes and if they will still be able to have healthcare.

The folks like my dad, who are on Medicare, who are writing in, emailing, calling us, saying don't cut Medicare, they will find out in a few moments whether or not we have pushed through the biggest cut to Medicare in American history.

The kids who rely on SNAP, the nutrition assistance program, may not quite understand it, but make no mistake about it: What we are about to do in the next few minutes here will have a profound effect on their lives, not to mention the millions of Americans who may not be on Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, or the ACA, but who rely on a hospital in a rural area, who now may see that hospital close because of the cuts that are in this piece of legislation.

Of course, for many years to come, we and our kids and our grandkids are going to be saddled with even more debt in order to afford tax cuts for those who need them the least. This is not just bad economics. I believe it is immoral.

I would remind us that the Congressional Budget Office, just last week, found in the final analysis of this bill, when all of its component parts are summed together, that the bottom third of households would be poorer, the middle of the country would be no better off, and the biggest benefit would go to the top 1 percent of Americans.

This legislation makes the poor poorer, the rich richer, and the middle class left behind.

On behalf of the millions of Americans who are relying on us to hold firm on behalf of this side of the aisle, we say: Hell, no. Vote ``no'' on this bill.

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