Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2026
Floor Speech
Mr. Speaker, let me set the stage here for what has brought us to this point.
Last year, over the course of the first 6 months of the year, mind you, there was reconciliation 1.0. That was what the other side and the President used to call the big, beautiful bill. Do you remember that?
You don't hear that phrase too much anymore. Do you know why? It is one of the most unpopular pieces of legislation to pass Congress in modern American history, with a more than 2-to-1 disapproval over approval.
Why is that? Because the American people know what was in the bill. The American people know that it throws more than 15 million Americans off their healthcare--more than 17 million, according to one nonpartisan service. In addition to that, it raises healthcare costs for tens of millions more.
That is not all. It also cuts nutrition assistance, the biggest cuts to the SNAP program in American history--on and on. I could take up the next hour listing the cuts.
Why are those cuts in there? In order to fund the biggest tax breaks for billionaires in American history, but that is not all. It is also the biggest increase to our national debt in American history, and that is not all. It also includes $140 billion--record funding, mind you-- for ICE and CBP.
That is what has set the stage for reconciliation 2.0, the bill that is now in front of us.
This bill is quite different in that it is narrowly pertaining to just two areas: ICE and CBP. That is interesting to me because one thing the vast majority of the American people agree on--whether they are Democrat, Republican, or Independent--is that costs keep going up. They haven't come down in the last year and a half. They have only gotten worse. They have only gotten higher.
That is no accident. It is not because of something like a terrorist attack or the business cycle. No. It is directly because of this President's reckless policies: trade policies that have spiked inflation and a war in Iran that has taken the average price for a gallon of gas from under $3 a gallon just 2 months ago to now over $4.20 a gallon and rising.
You don't see anything in this reconciliation 2.0 to address anything that I just discussed, any of the rising costs, any of the rising healthcare costs, any of the rising costs at the supermarket--nothing, nada, zilch, zero.
The only thing that is in this is another $70 billion for ICE and CBP, on top of the record funding that was in the bill last year.
The American people simply want costs to come down, period. Unfortunately, those priorities are not being met by this Republican majority.
Now, I want to be clear: I believe--and sometimes this is inconvenient on both sides of the aisle to say it. I strongly believe in a strong border, period. What I don't believe in is any agency of the government shooting and killing American citizens in the streets of our country. I think the vast majority of the American people agree with me that we need to have a secure border, but that we cannot have any agency of our government carrying out killings on our streets.
We know that there are reforms that need to happen with ICE and CBP in order to rein in the abuses that we have seen. Unfortunately, none of that is in the bill before us. Instead, it is just showering them with additional billions of dollars that they simply don't need.
Mr. Speaker, I really hope we can get back soon to a budget bill that addresses the needs and concerns of the American people. Unfortunately, that is not the one that is presently before us. The American people deserve far better.
Boy, that sounds like a scary hellscape that the last couple speakers on the other side have described. I am just glad they are not talking about the United States because in the country where I live, actually specifically in my city of Philadelphia, the murder rate is lower today than at any point in the 1960s. There are a lot of American cities right now that have the lowest violent crime rate in my lifetime.
I can understand, though, why they want to talk about anything but costs because right now, according to one opinion poll, the American people are more pessimistic today about their own economic future than they were even in the depths of the Great Recession, and they rate this President the lowest job approval on the economy since George W. Bush in the middle of the Great Recession. You can understand why they want to talk about anything except for costs and the financial livelihoods of most American households.
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Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Omar), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.
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Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Jayapal), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.
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Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Chu), also a member of the Budget Committee.
Mr. Speaker, listen for the dog that didn't bark. Do you notice what the other side hasn't mentioned once during this debate--a debate, mind you, on a reconciliation budget bill--nothing about cost; nothing about their plan to bring down the cost of gas, which had the biggest monthly increase in my lifetime thanks to this administration's policies; nothing to make healthcare more affordable; nothing about childcare to make that more affordable; nothing to make housing more affordable; nothing at all about that.
They have nothing to say because they have no plan, and they don't have one dime for any of that in their bill.
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Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, just to fact check here what we heard, the previous speaker said that the national average for a gallon of gas is $3 a gallon. No, that is what it was 2 months ago. Today, as of literally just a few moments ago when I checked, the national average is $4.22 a gallon. Again, last month was the largest monthly increase in the price of gas since 1967.
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Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.
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Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Let me first state for the record that it is always a pleasure debating with Chairman Arrington. We have vigorous debates in the Budget Committee as well as here on the House floor, and it is always a pleasure to do so. I thank he and his staff who are always professional and courteous to us.
Mr. Speaker, we have heard a lot over the course of this debate. I would like to take a step back and put things in perspective. Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is this: Things are too expensive right now, and they are making it worse. Their policies are making it worse, which is remarkable because 2 years ago, being a resident of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I saw more TV ads--I should say was subjected to seeing more TV ads, especially during the sports games I watch--than any other State in the country.
As different as the two Presidential nominees may have been from one another, one thing they actually agreed on is that the overwhelming majority of the ads from the Democratic nominee and the overwhelming majority of the ads from the Republican Presidential nominee were about the same thing: They were about costs. Everyone agreed that costs were too high, and they needed to come down.
This President ran around my State saying: ``I will lower costs on day one.'' Remember when he said that?
Here we are not on day one, not on day two, but on day 400, 500, whatever it is, of this Presidency, and costs aren't any lower today than 2024. In fact, they are higher. It is more for healthcare, more at the supermarkets, and more at the gas pumps.
Unlike previous downturns in our economy, it is not because of an act of terrorism like 9/11, and it is not because of a downturn in the business cycle. No, it is specifically because of the reckless policies of this administration and those who have supported those policies here in Congress.
His reckless trade war has only increased costs. He has doubled down on that policy by now launching a war in Iran that, in just 2 months, has brought gas prices from under $3 a gallon to now $4.22 just today and rising, perhaps approaching $5 a gallon this summer.
What has he done on taxes and healthcare and spending? Their first reconciliation bill last year showered tax breaks by the trillions to mostly the wealthy, and it paid for it on the backs of the healthcare of the American people.
Here we are now in reconciliation 2.0, and what do we find? There is nothing in here about the price of groceries, nothing to lower the price of gas, and nothing on housing, on childcare, or on healthcare. No, we have $70 billion more for ICE and CBP.
We can do far better. The American people deserve better. Say no to their reckless policies. Vote ``no'' on this bill.
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