Rashida Tlaib: Trump's 1st 100 Days Has 'Consolidated Power Into The Hands Of The Billionaire Class'

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On the House floor, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) slammed President Trump's first 100 days in office.

Transcript

00:00It's hard to believe that it's only been 13 weeks. That's right, 13 weeks.

00:08President Trump's first hundred days in office have eroded constitutional rights,

00:12illegally and lawlessly dismantled federal agencies, consolidated power into the hands of the billionaire class.

00:20I like to describe it not as shameful and lawless and reckless, which is all those three things,

00:26but it's also the cruelty of how it's being done.

00:30He has relied on executive orders to push through illegal and divisive policies that circumvent this chamber, this Congress.

00:38Going around Congress, it has empowered an unelected billionaire like Elon Musk, of course,

00:45to fire federal workers without cause and dismantle the programs our families depend on.

00:50It's probably why they're losing in court.

00:5293% of these courts were winning because, again, much of what he's doing is illegal.

00:57He's attempted to override the Constitution through executive order to end birthright citizenship,

01:02deport American citizens without due process, including a four-year-old with cancer

01:08and openly defied Supreme Court orders.

01:10This is a constitutional crisis. This is a fact.

01:13We, right now, don't need to be cutting services and critical programs for our families.

01:20We need to make them work better for our families.

01:23Instead of gutting health care and Medicaid and food assistance and our public school system,

01:28Congress should make the ultra-rich pay more taxes and make these programs better for the people.

01:35Working families, as we all know, I mean, Americans are living paycheck by paycheck.

01:39That's 60% of them are.

01:41Working families are worried about paying their rent, covering the cost of groceries,

01:45and what they are going through if they get sick.

01:48I mean, no one plans to get sick, Mr. Speaker.

01:51Trump's proposed tax plan only benefits the richest Americans.

01:54It's a true fact. Look at it.

01:56Even powerful corporations are going to see a big tax break.

01:59Giving $7 trillion, not millions or billions, $7 trillion in tax cuts to billionaires

02:05while making working families pay for them by cutting Medicaid by $880 billion

02:10and food assistance by $230 billion.

02:14And don't get me going about the environmental protections.

02:17They have rolled those back.

02:19Our children deserve clean water and they deserve to breathe clean air.

02:23Showing, again, this reckless disregard for our planet and our public health.

02:29Yet in the face of this harmful and oppressive agenda, we have seen power in the resistance,

02:34not only through litigation, but in the streets.

02:37Americans have mobilized in unprecedented numbers from protests to town halls across our nation.

02:44Our communities are organizing, Mr. Speaker, not only to fight back against these harmful policies,

02:49but to build a better and more inclusive future.

02:52Now is the time to not give in to cynicism, but we must stay engaged and speak truth to power

02:58and come together in solidarity to fight for a country that our communities truly deserve

03:04that's for the people and by the people, not the powerful.

03:07I always remind my residents, Mr. Speaker, that we didn't get the Civil Rights Act

03:11or transformative change in our country or the right to organize unions

03:15because of what folks do here in this chamber.

03:18It's because the streets demanded it.

03:20That's how we got the Civil Rights Act and the right to organize labor and unions in our country.

03:24So, again, continue to rise up, continue to resist this fascist government.

03:29The gentlelady's time has expired.

03:31Members are...

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