[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 71 (Wednesday, April 26, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H2852]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FIRST 100 DAYS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for 5 minutes.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, at the end of the week, President Trump will
reach his 100th day in office. These first 100 days, unfortunately,
have been defined by chaos, contradiction, and conflicts of interest,
and he has broken campaign promise after campaign promise.
He claimed he would be the greatest jobs President God ever created,
yet he has failed to put forward a single jobs bill and is taking
credit for jobs that were created or announced long before he took
office.
He said he would fight for working families, yet his budget would
slash investments that create jobs and opportunities. He said he would
drain the swamp, yet he refuses to release his taxes, which would shed
light on his own conflict of interest.
Washington is now practically drowning in the swamp President Trump
has rained down on our Capital. He promised to balance the budget in 9
years. It took him, unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, less than 30 days to
abandon that pledge, and his most recent proposals--tax cuts--would
plunge our Nation even more deeply into debt.
But perhaps most emblematic of the failure of this Presidency's first
100 days was his attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act and
purportedly to replace it.
The President has promised insurance for everybody--not access,
insurance for everybody. He said that over and over again. But
TrumpCare would do exactly the opposite, kicking 24 million people off
their coverage and precluding millions more from being able to get
health insurance.
The President promised coverage that is much less expensive and much
better, but TrumpCare would force Americans to pay more for less. Not
my observation--the Congressional Budget Office's.
The President promised he wouldn't cut Medicaid, but like so many
other broken promises, TrumpCare cuts Medicaid deeply. As was true of
the President's campaign, he brought no unity to his attack on
America's health, and his plan was not even voted on. Indeed, that has
been followed by Republican efforts to make their proposal even more
draconian.
The second 100 days looms even worse as the Trump White House
continues to be focused on kicking Americans off their coverage and
making the rest pay more and getting less, saying it intends to bring
an even more draconian version of its TrumpCare bill back.
Mr. Speaker, Republicans control both the House, the Senate, and the
administration. They are now, theoretically, the governing party, and
whatever happens to our healthcare system on their watch will be their
responsibility.
So as this administration reaches its 100th day in office, it has a
choice. It can continue to rack up the failures that it has amassed or
it can turn the page to constructive cooperation.
The President can, contrary to his promises, keep trying to take
health coverage away from the American people and make it more
expensive, or he can set partisanship aside and work across the aisle
to make sure the Affordable Care Act works for everyone.
We ought to be working together to accomplish that objective. He must
start by ensuring that the promised cost-sharing reduction payments
under the Affordable Care Act are made. If he does not, millions of
people will be deeply hurt, the insurance system will be destabilized,
and Americans across this country will find their policies more
expensive.
On jobs, he can continue doing nothing or he can finally show the
American people a plan to invest in jobs and infrastructure. Send us
the legislation you promised, Mr. President. And he can keep hiding his
tax returns from the American people and ducking and weaving when it
comes to his ties to Russia, or finally draw the curtain back and show
what he has been hiding and support a bipartisan, independent
commission to seek the answers Americans deserve and America must have.
Mr. Speaker, in these first 100 days, if they are a prologue of that
which is to come, I grieve for us all. America is a great and good
nation, an exceptional nation and people. We must not, by demagoguery,
irrationality, and negligence, on the wings of a tweet, allow it to be
brought low.
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