Val Hoyle: This Is Why Changing Gulf Of Mexico To Gulf Of America Is 'A Waste Of Taxpayer Dollars'

At Monday's House Rules Committee hearing, Rep. Val Hoyle (D-OR) slammed the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, and I yield back.

00:02Thank you. Representative Hoyle, you're recognized.

00:05Thank you, Chair Fox and members of the committee.

00:09I'd like to wish everybody a happy Cinco de Mayo.

00:12We could be celebrating the victory of the Mexican Army over the French,

00:17but we're here renaming a body of water.

00:22And let's be clear, this is a waste of taxpayer dollars.

00:27When we change the name of Fort Bragg numbers of times and back to Fort Bragg,

00:35it costs $6 million, but who is going to pay for the maps, for the books,

00:41for the signs that municipalities, schools, and libraries have to replace?

00:45Who pays for that? We do as taxpayers.

00:47So this is a waste of taxpayer dollars, and this is not what the American people want.

00:54My phone isn't ringing off the hook with people saying,

00:57please rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.

01:02Over 70% of Americans oppose this bill and spending time on this.

01:10My phone's ringing off the hook with seniors who can't get through to Social Security,

01:14are on the phone waiting four, six, eight hours, and then getting disconnected,

01:18with veterans who can't access services, with private citizens and elected officials

01:24whose grants have been frozen, grants that we, with Congress, with the power of the purse,

01:30said should be spent, and projects are dying.

01:35And we are getting lots of calls from manufacturers and farmers and small business people

01:42who are being devastated by onerous and erratic tariffs.

01:47That's what people are talking about when they're calling our office.

01:54The founders of this country set up our democratic republic with three separate and equal branches of government,

02:03specifically so that the United States would never have a king, never be ruled by one person.

02:10We took an oath to obey the Constitution, not to bend the knee to the president,

02:15no matter what party they're in.

02:18And yet, here we are, again, wasting taxpayer dollars.

02:23This was proposed in 2010 by Stephen Colbert, a comedian.

02:29When he was making fun of actions like this, and now here we are, it has become a reality.

02:38Went from a comedy show, and now we here are in Congress, with everything else going on focused on this.

02:44I'm going to read a quote from a Guardian editorial, because I think it says everything.

02:53Why stop here?

02:55How about declaring by fiat that the Washington Monument is now to be called the Trump Monument?

03:01Why not chisel another presidential face onto Mount Rushmore and call it Mount Donald?

03:05The great renaming has begun, and George Orwell would understand exactly what's going on.

03:11I urge my colleagues to reject this bill and get back to work on things that benefit our constituents and the taxpayers of America.

03:20Thank you very much, and with that, I yield my time.

03:23Thank you very much, Ms. Fischbach.

03:27I'm sorry.

03:28Mr. Griffith, you're recognized.