Northeast Ohioans Are Getting Squeezed

Floor Speech

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Ms. BROWN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I have just come back from our district work period in northeast Ohio, and let me tell you, Madam Speaker, there is nothing better than being home being in our churches, in our union halls, and our community centers listening to the people I serve.

Let me tell you what I heard, Madam Speaker. It was crystal clear. People are getting squeezed.

Groceries--a very old fashioned word--are too expensive. Gas is too expensive. Housing is way too expensive, and Trump's chaos and corruption are making it all worse.

I heard how tariffs are jacking up prices, crushing small businesses, and threatening workers. I heard how the one big, ugly bill is about to make utility bills, student loans, and grocery costs skyrocket, all to give the richest Americans more tax breaks.

I heard how the President's cancellation of community safety funding will make our neighborhoods less safe, and I heard how his attacks on unions at the VA and FEMA will ripple right into the private sector, hurting working men and women everywhere.

Donald Trump's latest stunt, firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, is illegal, reckless, and a straight-up power grab designed to give him control of the Fed and raise costs for families.

An independent Federal Reserve is the bedrock of American prosperity. If you undermine it, retirement savings vanish, mortgage rates climb, and life gets more expensive for everyone.

Madam Speaker, this is bigger than economics. This is about freedom. Take a look around our country. We have military patrols in American cities, political investigations of the President's critics, mass detentions without due process, Federal agents hidden behind masks, museums ordered to rewrite history, the government bullying private companies and universities, and banners of the President's face that would even make Kim Jong-un blush.

This is a toxic agenda, and the President knows it. That is why he is changing the rules in the middle of the game. Need I remind you, 4 years ago, he demanded Georgia find him votes? Now, he is demanding red States find him more seats in Congress.

All this for what? So Donald Trump can enrich himself and his billionaire allies while everyday, hardworking Americans pay the bill.

I just have to ask, Madam Speaker: Where are the so-called constitutional conservatives? Will even one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle find the courage to stand up? Have they not learned that cowering before this man only works until he decides you are expendable?

It may be easy to look away when people are without welfare status, when they suffer, or when people you don't like are targeted, fired, or erased. It may be easy when the victims live in places like Cleveland, Chicago, or Washington, but be clear: It never ends there.

As a Black woman, I know who the cruel and oppressive executive orders and policies punish first, but I also know this: Once it starts, everyone is punished.

This is the moment to defend our economy, to defend our Constitution, and to defend our freedoms and elections.

Madam Speaker, let me close with this. Last week, President Trump said: I have the right to do anything I want to do. I am the President of the United States.

He said it and laid it on the table in plain sight for all of us to see. He wants no checks, no balances, not from the courts, not from Congress, and not from the voters.

It is time to wake up, America, before it is too late.

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