[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 1, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H585-H586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        HOUSE REPUBLICAN ECONOMIC SCHEME HURTS WORKING FAMILIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
the Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, the work of Congress, and particularly the 
House of Representatives, is to advance the well-being, security, and 
economic growth of the American people.
  Let me define for you, Mr. Speaker, who the American people are. For 
all of us as Members of Congress, that looks very different.
  For me in my district, it means the young entrepreneur who is eager 
and excited about starting a new business, a startup company.
  It is the middle-aged couple who have government jobs and who have 
worked diligently, scrimped and saved to buy a home, and are now 
looking for financing and support to send their children to college.
  It is the veteran who has served this country and now has to navigate 
through the bureaucracy of the Federal Government to get those rights 
and privileges that, having served this country, he or she deserves.
  It is the senior citizen and the retiree who are always watching 
their budget to make sure that they have enough to meet all of their 
bills and somehow get by.
  Those are the people and the families whom I fight for. I know that, 
on my side of the aisle, those workers, parents, seniors, and young 
people are whom we, as Democrats, are fighting for. While we may come 
from different families with different standings, beliefs, and 
statuses, that is whom we all should be working for in this Chamber.
  Presently, however, the House Republican economic scheme will only 
hurt working American families, whom we say we are here to support. As 
Congress, as the House of Representatives of the people, we must, in 
partnership with the President, continue to enact legislation to 
protect the financial security of American working families.
  That is why I am directly calling on my colleagues, the Republican 
Conference members, to begin the work of legislating for the American 
people--the majority of Americans, not the performative politics 
required by an extreme social media fringe--with legislation to help 
work out the best possibilities to solve the growing challenges that 
our families, the American people, face every day.
  The current Republican-led plan to cut taxes in favor of the wealthy 
does not help lower- and middle-income families. Instead, it increases 
our national deficit and makes inflation worse.
  The dismantling of Social Security will be devastating to retirees, 
who have paid into that system and believe that it is something that 
they are going to have to live out their best days yet.
  Likewise, allowing for prescription drug prices and health insurance 
premiums to rise while simultaneously allowing for an increasing energy 
bill and student loan payments only make it harder for families to 
financially stay afloat and take care of their health.
  In the last Congress, the 117th Congress, President Biden and House 
Democrats forged extraordinary progress, working in a bipartisan manner 
in the other Chamber, for American working families with many 
consequential new laws.
  They include the American Rescue Plan, which kick-started the fastest 
and strongest jobs recovery in modern times, creating more than 10 
million jobs in just 2 years; the infrastructure law, which put 
Americans back to work while simultaneously rebuilding our roads, 
bridges, ports, and water systems; the Bipartisan Safer Communities 
Act, which deploys stronger tools to keep guns out of dangerous hands; 
the PACT Act, which ensures that veterans who are exposed to toxic 
chemicals while protecting our Nation can access the healthcare 
services they need; the CHIPS and Science Act, which will power 
American preeminence in science, innovation, and manufacturing, 
strengthen our national security, and bring jobs back to

[[Page H586]]

America for decades to come; and the Inflation Reduction Act, which 
slashed prescription drug costs and lowered healthcare premiums, 
delivering the most consequential climate action in history and 
reducing the Federal deficit.

  All of this progress can continue if we continue to work to legislate 
and not to perform for cameras and social media. To work for the 
American people is incumbent on us all--Democrats, Republicans, all of 
us--to work together to protect the health, security, and freedom of 
American families.

                          ____________________