[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 25, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H1917-H1918]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      YOUR SPEAKER OR YOUR SENIORS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Crockett) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. CROCKETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today appalled by the Speaker's 
debt ceiling bill. Right now, the Speaker stands alone, threatening to 
not pay bills we owe to advance his personal policy preferences.
  If we don't pay our bills, there will be catastrophic consequences 
for everyone. The interest rate would skyrocket, making it nearly 
impossible to afford a home or car and closing opportunities for upward 
mobility for millions of Americans.
  The stock market will crater as investors lose faith in the ability 
of our government to perform even the most basic function because of 
the Speaker's bill. The result would be millions of Americans' 
retirement accounts wiped out.
  For years, the threat of such economic catastrophe historically made 
even the threat of default off-limits, but the Speaker knows that what 
he has is an extreme minority in his caucus and that what he wants is 
deeply unpopular, so he is trying to hold our government hostage.
  He stands alone because he knows that no Democrat will support this 
ransom, so he needs each and every Republican to fall in line behind 
him.
  I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle know that their 
constituents are watching, watching to see who their Representative 
came to Congress to fight for, your Speaker or your seniors.
  The Speaker's bill will add additional work reporting requirements 
for seniors in their fifties in order to receive basic food assistance. 
Across the country, there are no less than 3 million

[[Page H1918]]

seniors who could lose food assistance because of this bill.
  My colleagues must make a choice: your Speaker or your seniors.
  Because everything in D.C. is filled with jargon, I want to pause for 
a moment to make sure we all understand who the Speaker's bill is 
targeting.
  The people the Speaker is targeting are seniors in their fifties who 
don't even have $6 a day for food. That is all SNAP pays, $6 a day for 
food, but the Speaker's bill would deny even that paltry aid to 
hundreds of thousands of our constituents.
  Soon, those on the other side of the aisle must decide who matters 
more to them, your Speaker or your seniors.
  Make no mistake: This isn't about getting people to work. If you 
worked twice what was required, a full 40-hour week at minimum wage, 
which, frankly, is most of what is on the table for these seniors, you 
would still be on SNAP.
  The only way the Speaker's bill saves money, which he does say, is if 
people have their benefits stripped away, if seniors go hungry.
  Each of my colleagues must ask who matters more, your Speaker or your 
seniors?
  The Speaker's bill will kick seniors off SNAP rolls. Many seniors 
can't find a job at all because they face age discrimination. There is 
a reason that current law exempts those over 49. To expect them to have 
the same odds of finding a job as a young recipient is callous and 
cruel.
  Ask yourselves, who did you come to Congress to serve, your Speaker 
or your seniors?
  Even though the bill is only supposed to apply to able-bodied adults 
without dependents, that claim is laughable.
  Many of our constituents in their fifties are grandparents. They have 
childcare responsibilities even if the child isn't their dependent. 
Requiring them to neglect their grandchild or else go hungry is cruel 
and heartless.
  I hope my colleagues ask themselves who they came to Congress to 
serve, your Speaker or your seniors, because so many seniors will go 
hungry if the Speaker's bill becomes law.
  As the pandemic SNAP policies are ending, State agencies are 
responsible for updating participants' information so those eligible 
for assistance don't go hungry, but in many States, no outreach or only 
perfunctory outreach was performed.
  My concern is that if the Speaker's bill becomes law, tens of 
thousands of seniors who think they aren't subject to these reporting 
requirements will suddenly find themselves without benefits. If for any 
reason these seniors are denied benefits under the Speaker's bill, they 
will be ineligible for food assistance for the next 3 years.
  When we vote on this bill, we will be voting on a very simple 
question: support your Speaker or support your seniors.
  The burden lies with each of my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle. It is within your range, your power, to protect our seniors.
  Right now, the Speaker stands alone with a deeply unpopular proposal. 
Each of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle is asked to starve 
our seniors. If that is the policy of this House, that responsibility 
will be entirely on your shoulders.
  The choice is now yours. Quite simply, each Republican must answer 
the question: Who do you fight for, your Speaker or your seniors?

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