'President Joe Biden Had Those Files': Steve Scalise Slams Biden Administration Inaction On Epstein Files

Forbes Breaking News

In House floor remarks on Thursday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) spoke about the rescission bill.

Transcript

00:00The gentleman from Louisiana, the Majority Leader, Mr. Scalise.

00:04The distinguished gentleman from Louisiana is recognized for one minute.

00:07Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank the chair for yielding and for helping get this process to the floor,

00:14despite so many attempts by the Democrats to block this effort to cut waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending.

00:21And we've seen it over and over and over again.

00:23You know, every time we have tried to get our economy back on track, to put more money in the pockets, by the way, of hard-working families,

00:30as we just succeeded in doing with the one big, beautiful bill.

00:34Every step of the way, the only people trying to block that effort have been Democrats in Washington.

00:40And they are getting nervous, feeling the heat from people back home, Mr. Speaker, that are angry, saying,

00:47why did you vote those waiters and waitresses who make $32,000 a year when they keep hearing them talk about billionaires

00:54and voting not against billionaires, they're voting against $32,000 a year waiters and waitresses,

01:00cops working the beat who don't want to have to pay overtime taxes, and we protected them from that.

01:07Every Democrat voted no, Mr. Speaker, so I can understand why they come up here,

01:11and they want to talk about anything other than what we're actually doing to deliver for those families.

01:17Interesting how they talk about Jeffrey Epstein, because for four years, Mr. Speaker,

01:22President Joe Biden had those files, and not a single Democrat that you're hearing tonight tried to get those files released.

01:29And so the House Republicans are working to do that, and of course, they're in a tizzy, Mr. Speaker,

01:36because they're finally being exposed for covering it up for four years.

01:40And so let them continue to come up and talk about all the deficit spending that they created

01:46while they cite when they talk about, oh, gee whiz, the one big beautiful bill.

01:52You know, they talk about the House.

01:56You look at our scorekeeper here in the House, Mr. Speaker,

01:59and they say, oh, it's going to add $4 trillion to the deficit by giving people their money back

02:03along with cutting waste, fraud, and abuse that we did in this bill.

02:06Well, they're citing the same organization that the last time we gave families more of their hard-earned money back,

02:13that same group, CBO, said, oh, it's going to add $1.5 trillion to the deficit.

02:18Well, Mr. Speaker, we actually have the numbers now.

02:21And CBO was just a little bit off.

02:24The same people that they cite as gospel on $4 trillion said that we were going to add $1.5 trillion to the deficit back then.

02:31You know how much they were off by, Mr. Speaker?

02:33The numbers are in.

02:34They were off by $8 trillion and a half dollars.

02:37So they've lost their credibility.

02:39But Office of Management and Budget actually came out and said that one big beautiful bill will reduce the deficit by $1.4 trillion.

02:47And they don't want to talk about that because every Democrat voted no.

02:51Every Democrat voted against, by the way, reforming and revamping America's air traffic control system,

02:57which was in that bill, every Democrat voted no.

03:01Every American family wants that air traffic control system reformed.

03:05They sure want that tax relief.

03:07Those small businesses want to be able to get back up off their feet.

03:10And they'll be able to because House Republicans said,

03:14we're going to just focus on doing the work of the American people.

03:18And anybody that just wants to go root for failure and continue to try to keep inflation high,

03:23interest rates high, and vote no on every bill that puts power back in the pockets of families?

03:29Let them have to answer for that back home, Mr. Speaker.

03:31But we're going to keep working.

03:32This bill tonight is part of continuing that trend of getting spending under control.

03:39Does it answer all the problems?

03:41No.

03:41$9 billion, I would say, is a good start.

03:44And hopefully we do more things like this.

03:47But they're going to come up here and talk about everything other than this bill

03:51because they're all going to vote no.

03:53And I think it's important to know, Mr. Speaker, what they're going to vote no against.

03:56Let's talk about what's in the bill.

03:59They're going to be voting against the $6 million of those cities in Mexico.

04:05$8 million for the anti-Israel UN Human Rights Council, a group that is anti-Israel.

04:11Why should $8 million of American tax dollars that are being borrowed from other countries

04:17be going to that organization?

04:19How about we actually get spending under control?

04:22$300,000 to hold a pride parade in Lesotho.

04:27If Lesotho wants to hold a pride parade, let them do it with their tax dollars, not with

04:33American tax dollars.

04:35$1 million for voter ID in Haiti.

04:37This is rich.

04:38They're angry that we're cutting that money off.

04:41But those same Democrats that are going to vote no on that will oppose voter ID in America.

04:46They're okay with voter ID in Haiti, but they're against it in America.

04:52But we'll continue.

04:53$3 million.

04:54They keep talking about Sesame Street.

04:56$3 million going to Iraqi Sesame Street.

05:00Again, if the people in Iraq want to have Sesame Street on TV, let them go do it.

05:05But how about if they do it with their own tax dollars, not with American tax dollars?

05:10Or better yet, they probably can go get it put on one of the many options that the private

05:16sector would have.

05:17Just like here in America, we've got thousands of private sector options to watch any kind

05:22of show you would want.

05:24Anybody in America can watch all of that.

05:26$33,000 for being LGBTQI in the Caribbean.

05:33That's what we're cutting, and every Democrat will vote against that cut.

05:37$643,000 for LGBTQI programs in the Western Balkans.

05:43So, Mr. Speaker, every Democrat's going to vote against that cut and start talking about,

05:47oh my God, the world's going to end and we won't even be able to do diplomacy because

05:52we're not going to be spending taxpayer dollars to have a LGBTQI program in the Western Balkans.

06:00I think our relations with the Western Balkans will be just fine if we save that taxpayer money

06:05and try to get spending under control in Washington.

06:08But they don't want to do it.

06:09At least we do.

06:11$5.1 million to strengthen the resilience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex

06:16and queer global movements.

06:19I don't know what those global movements are.

06:21I think they can do that without taxpayer money.

06:25And then, of course, funding drag shows in Ecuador.

06:28The list goes on and on, Mr. Speaker.

06:30Let's finally get control over waste, fraud, and abuse.

06:35We started it in the one big beautiful bill.

06:37We're continuing it here, and we're going to continue it through the appropriations process.

06:42And if Democrats want to vote no, that's their prerogative.

06:46You know, they become the party of socialists.

06:48Let them vote that way.

06:49We're going to fight for those hardworking families who want to get our great country back on track.

06:54Let's pass this bill, keep moving, and keep working towards a better, stronger America.

06:59I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

07:01The gentleman from Louisiana yields back to gentlelady from North.

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