On Wednesday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) delivered remarks on the House floor about the proposed spending bill.
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00:00The chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan, Ms. Tlaib, for five minutes.
00:04Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm here this morning to talk about what is happening here in Congress
00:10in regards to the budget proposal. You know, I can't believe that many of my Republican
00:14colleagues, many of which have a larger number of folks on Medicaid, are proposing the largest cut
00:21to food assistance in the history of our country, the largest cut to Medicaid in our history of our
00:27country. And many are actually denying that they're even cutting it. That is a slap in the face of so
00:35many people that depend on it. You know, don't take it from me, but take it from the Congressional
00:40Budget Office and many others that continue to say that nearly 14 million Americans will lose their
00:46health care and thousands of people will be impacted by the proposal, the so-called reconciliation that
00:53is going through this chamber. We know that children and families will go hungry with this proposal.
01:00You know, our residents can't simply stop being hungry or stop being sick, Mr. Chair.
01:06For me, I know being on the front lines of a community that continues to again be left behind
01:12with policies here in this chamber, I know that they feel very much that this budget is a betrayal to our
01:18families. And if it wasn't bad enough, this all is being done to give trillions of dollars, not billions
01:24or millions, but trillions of dollars in tax breaks to the billionaire class and the largest corporations,
01:30corporations that do not need these tax breaks. But don't worry, there is a budget that got increased.
01:38That's the Pentagon, the defense budget, the war machine of the Pentagon budget can't pass an audit,
01:42seven audits in a row. I read somewhere that in the most recent audit failure, the Pentagon could not
01:49account for half of its assets. Half. That's hundreds of billions of dollars that are unaccounted for.
01:58And these are, many of my colleagues continue to talk about the deficit.
02:03I know this is a misnomer, but the Congressional Budget Office said the deficit is being increased by
02:08$3.8 trillion. So why isn't there this outcry of that number? But it always seems to be an outcry
02:19when we're trying to, again, feed children that are hungry or help make sure that people, again,
02:25no fault of their own getting sick to get covered by Medicaid. The budget would cut crucial programs for
02:32the poor and working families. That is a fact. It's not being made up. It's right there. It's going to take
02:37food away from hungry children, let people die from the lack of health care coverage. And they're
02:42even cutting, again, trillions of dollars, trillions of dollars, again, so that, so that we can continue
02:49to fund a budget that can't pass an audit. You know, one of the amendments that I'm offering this
02:55morning, Mr. Chair, is one of the ones that says, hey, if the Pentagon can't pass an audit, then we
03:02shouldn't be able to fund them. You know, I really believe no money for Pentagon waste. When an
03:08amendment would prevent any funds, again, being allocated to this, when you talk about waste,
03:12when you talk about fraud, you look at the Pentagon budget. But instead, what did we do?
03:17We went to the most vulnerable. We went to the hungry. We went to the sick.
03:22Why? Because many of my colleagues in this chamber own stock and war manufacturing, Mr. Chair.
03:28That's a direct conflict of interest. So every time they increase the budget for defense,
03:36many of them are benefiting personally from that increase. No increases to helping the poor
03:44or helping the hungry, and many of which are in both Republican and Democratic districts.
03:50Again, many of my colleagues have a lot more people on Medicaid than my district does.
03:54But yet here we are, gaslighting and misleading the public and saying, we're not cutting it.
03:59We're not doing this or that. How is that possible when the Congressional Budget Office,
04:04a nonpartisan agency that many of my colleagues on the other side have quoted themselves,
04:09many of the people that are the so-called, I'm concerned about the deficit,
04:13you're increasing the deficit by $3.8 trillion. But put that aside, the cruelty of it.
04:20The cruelty of it. You know, I have an amendment in there that talks about the fact that we need to
04:25focus on reducing the rate of infant mortality. Why can't we work on that? That is a national crisis
04:31right now, infant mortality. We can do that by ensuring that Medicaid covers all prenatal and
04:37postnatal care. Why can't we support that? Why can't we make sure? I know over 40% of births in our
04:44country are covered by Medicaid, Mr. Chair. And again, I'm trying to propose these amendments to
04:50highlight the fact that these are very critical programs, no matter where you live in our country.
04:55We could also be ending child poverty and ensure that every child has the resource they need to
05:00reach their full potential. You know, we should be talking about these critical issues of funding
05:07these programs. It's our tax dollars going back to our neighbors who need it most. Instead of voting
05:15to make life easier, they're supporting polluters, corporations, and billionaires that do not need it.
05:22General Women's Times expired? Please, to all my colleagues. They won't ask Speaker Johnson or the
05:28President why they voted this. They're going to ask you when you go back to your districts. So please do the
05:32right. Thank you.