[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 178 (Thursday, November 2, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H8391-H8392]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, on Tuesday, we had the holiday of 
Halloween, and a character came to my house with paint all over their 
face, and I thought they were the musical group KISS. Well, they 
weren't.
  They were the Trump administration, disguised as the Trump 
administration is, and with the simple logo of KISS: Keep it simple, 
stupid. That is what the Trump administration's attempts are to the 
American people.
  The previous speaker made some comments about regulations and said 
that the Obama administration wanted to stop Second Amendment advocates 
from getting guns, arbitrarily, for Social Security recipients. Well, 
that sounds good. It is simple. Keep it simple.
  Well, they weren't Social Security recipients. They were Social 
Security recipients who had been declared incompetent to manage their 
own affairs. That is who they said shouldn't get guns, not Social 
Security recipients.
  The previous speaker said something about abortion provider Planned 
Parenthood getting their funds cut off. Planned Parenthood does most of 
their work outside of the arena of abortion. Mostly, they do women's 
basic health services, and by cutting that off, they are hurting women, 
particularly in my community and other communities where poor people 
often get their healthcare, their women's care, from Planned 
Parenthood, and they are depriving them of that healthcare.
  Just yesterday, in the subcommittee of which I am the ranking member, 
we had a hearing on changing Roe v. Wade. They called it the Heartbeat 
bill. In reality, it is destruction of women's right to choose, a 
fundamental right established in Roe v. Wade, and an unconstitutional 
bill that could limit the right of a woman to have an abortion as early 
as 6 weeks, while right now it is 20 to 24 weeks, the period of 
viability.
  They brought a sonogram in and showed a sonogram on the monitor. What 
they didn't do when they talked about their ``culture of death'' was 
bring in any lifesaving equipment that

[[Page H8392]]

will not be available when they cut $1 billion from Medicaid and $500 
million from Medicare in their tax proposal, when they put 23 million 
people off of healthcare, the Affordable Care Act, which is what they 
tried to do but couldn't accomplish.
  It is difficult to sit here and watch what is happening to our 
country. Having the Trump administration tell the middle class they are 
going to get a tax cut on the one hand, but on the other hand, they are 
creating over a trillion dollars in debt, where is that debt going to 
come from? It is going to come from programs that the middle class will 
have to give up, so they will be net losers.
  One of the main thrusts of their tax proposal is to eliminate the 
State tax, originally to do it immediately. Now they are talking about 
maybe phasing it out over 5 or 6 years. That will cost the Federal 
budget $290 billion. That will come from Pell grants that give people 
the opportunity to go to college and not have a terrible debt over 
their heads when they leave; from SNAP payments that give nutritional 
benefits to people that otherwise would go without, the families that 
would go without food and proper nutritional benefits; and even LIHEAP, 
which gives help with heating bills to people who can't afford it in 
difficult winter conditions.
  What they are proposing is not a middle class tax cut. It is a cut 
for the wealthiest in our country, and that is who will get the 
benefits. That is who they are about.
  Their whole program is KISS: Keep it simple, stupid. That is the only 
way they can try to sell their wealthy tax break, their aims to prevent 
women from getting proper healthcare, and their attacks on women in 
general.

  It is unfortunate what we see, what we saw earlier this week in the 
indictments handed out to Mr. Manafort, Mr. Gates, and the guilty plea 
of Mr. Papadopoulos. Individuals involved with the campaign and the 
administration have not been the best, as they were supposed to be. In 
fact, they are suspected of criminal behavior, and one has admitted to 
it.
  Our democracy is at risk, and I fear what could happen to it. That is 
why I introduced an amendment to the Constitution to limit the 
President's pardon power so he couldn't pardon himself, members of his 
family, members of his administration, or paid members of his campaign 
staff.
  He has already pardoned Joe Arpaio, and he has threatened to use that 
power in furtherance as he discussed the possibility of pardoning 
himself. If he does so, any of these pardons, it will be a test of our 
democracy, and it will be a test of my colleagues on the other side.
  We must protect democracy and protect America from unlawful activity.
  God bless America.

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