Congratulating Military Academy Appointees

Floor Speech

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Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate 37 outstanding students in my district who accepted appointments to the Nation's military academies. They just reported last week, and these are incredibly impressive young men and women.

My district, Virginia's 10th, has an incredibly competitive process and nominates the most number of people to military academies of any district in the country.

These young men and women were able to get through our rigorous progress by demonstrating leadership, patriotism, and a commitment to service.

We thank the students for their dedication, their courage, and their willingness to answer the call. We look forward to seeing the incredible impact they will have as future leaders of our Armed Forces. Medicaid Paperwork Red Tape

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Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, we keep hearing the same thing about the big, ugly bill the President signed last week. We hear we are keeping Medicaid for the people who need it and only kicking off able- bodied people. This is simply not true.

These cuts to people's benefits are a little sneaky. It is not a work requirement. It is a paperwork requirement. They want to inundate people who need Medicaid as a lifeline with paperwork that will be difficult for them to do.

These are folks with health issues, folks on Medicaid with disabilities, mothers and fathers with multiple jobs and kids, or without access to reliable broadband in a few cases.

The red tape imposed on Medicaid by this bill isn't meant to be a flaw. It is the whole point. That is why they have pushed it forward past the next election.

We have seen this before. In Arkansas and Georgia, they promised to save taxpayer money with ``work requirements.'' All they did was kick people off who actually needed it the most. Unemployment rates didn't go up. Why? Many people on Medicaid are already working.

Who is better at paperwork? Is it someone on disability who Medicaid was intended for or someone who wants to defraud the system?

Most of the waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid is actually from providers and not from the folks who need it. No, the real fraud is this paperwork requirement. We need to get rid of it. Concern for Educational Funding

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Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today out of deep concern for students across Virginia and the country. Right now, this administration is withholding nearly $7 billion in congressionally approved education funding.

This is money meant for public schools. These fund after-school programs, teacher training, literacy training, and more. Without warning, the administration froze them. The result has been delays and potential cuts and layoffs. School districts, including the ones that I represent, are now scrambling to fill unexpected budget gaps.

I have heard directly from educators in my district whose jobs will be on the line and whose students risk losing vital support if this funding isn't restored.

It is our students who will pay the ultimate price, but it doesn't stop there. The Department of Education has been painfully slow to respond to those seeking help.

My constituents have been waiting for months for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness that they are owed. Others have been placed on incorrect student loan payment plans and subjected to poor treatment from loan providers. They are left frustrated and financially strained.

The administration must release K-12 funding and allow the Department of Education to continue their work. Our students deserve better than this waste and red tape. Congratulating Madison Whitbeck

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Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, congratulations to former Ms. Loudoun County, now Ms. Virginia, Madison Whitbeck.

Madison is a proud graduate of Riverside High School in Loudoun County where she cultivated a love for the arts. Madison will spend the year traveling to over 70 elementary schools, teaching students curriculum on making health choices relating to drugs and alcohol.

She will begin her work on the Arts for All initiative, as well, seeking to expand access to the arts for students across the Commonwealth.

Mr. Speaker, we congratulate Madison, and we look forward to seeing all the great things that she does. U.S. Embassy Visa Uncertainty

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Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight a concern I have heard from many constituents about the delays and uncertainty in the visa process at U.S. Embassies, particularly in Islamabad.

Families in my district have cases stuck in administrative processing with no clear timeline. These delays are keeping families apart, creating needless anxiety and making it impossible to plan for the future.

Just last week, this administration announced the firings of 1,300 staff at the State Department. That is 1,100 civil servants and 246 Foreign Service officers.

While these cuts may not directly impact those embassy operations, they are only going to have a domino effect that is going to hurt every single embassy around the country and around the world.

At a time of heightened conflict and global uncertainty, we should invest in our diplomatic and consular capacities, not reducing them. I hope that the work in Islamabad has improved so that our constituents can be served better.

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