[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 83 (Wednesday, May 17, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H2410-H2412]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      DANGER OF DEFAULT ON AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. KIGGANS of Virginia). Under the 
Speaker's announced policy of January 9, 2023, the gentlewoman from 
Pennsylvania (Ms. Lee) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of 
the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the 
mothers, fathers, children, sons, daughters, beloved friends, and 
community members whose livelihoods, dignity, and in some cases, 
survival is under attack by Republicans in Congress who are threatening 
to crash our economy if we don't bend to their pro-hunger, antifamily, 
antisenior, antiworking-class agenda to pay for handouts for their 
billionaire donors.
  Like so many of the folks I proudly represent, I was raised by a 
single mother in a working-class home. When times were tough, we 
depended on food assistance from SNAP and healthcare from Medicaid. I 
became the first in my family to go to college because I received a 
Pell grant, and I am still hundreds of thousands of dollars in student 
debt because I had the audacity to attend law school.

  I am able to be in Congress uplifting the voices of poor and working-
class folks in my community and across the country because of the 
lifelines Republicans are hell-bent on tearing away.
  So let's not get it twisted. Right now, Republicans are trying to 
fool you into thinking that they genuinely care about spending. They 
hurt everyone with their giveaways to the price-gougers that fund their 
campaigns, and they turn around and blame Black folks, Brown folks, 
poor folks, and immigrants for the mess they created.
  They claim that if we don't strip away food from the struggling, 
subsistence from seniors, and earned benefits from the elderly to give 
billionaires the benefits of a tax break, you and your family will pay 
the price.
  They are lying to you. You deserve the truth. The truth is that this 
isn't about balancing the budget. This is about attacking working 
class, middle class, poor and marginalized Americans to serve 
themselves and their filthy rich friends.
  The truth is that if Republicans get their way, in Pennsylvania 
alone, almost 100,000 women, children, and seniors will lose access to 
food assistance. Over 15,000 children and parents would lose access to 
preschool and childcare. Housing costs would increase for over 20,000 
people already struggling to keep a roof over their heads. College 
would get more expensive or out of reach entirely for nearly 200,000 PA 
students.
  Madam Speaker, 310 rail safety inspection days would be cut, just 
months after western Pennsylvania, right next to Ohio, suffered from 
the train derailment in East Palestine.

                              {time}  1900

  Half a million Pennsylvanians would be at risk of losing lifesaving 
healthcare coverage under Medicaid.
  The truth is that if Republicans don't get their way, they are 
threatening to default on our Nation's bills, crash our economy, and 
unleash economic catastrophe that would kill at least 7 million jobs--
7,000 in my congressional district alone.
  They are threatening Medicare, Social Security, and veterans' health 
coverage for nearly 300,000 people in the two counties I represent. 
They are threatening to increase lifetime mortgage costs by $37,000, 
and they are threatening the retirement savings of 100,000 soon-to-be 
seniors, eliminating $20,000 from the typical retirement portfolio.
  This isn't about statistics. This is about people's lives. This is 
about the single mother who, like mine when I was growing up, is paid 
wages so low at her multiple jobs that she needs food assistance to 
make sure her kids don't get on the schoolbus hungry.

[[Page H2411]]

  This is about the nurse who is in medical debt to the hospital she 
works for where the CEO is paid millions of dollars but she is paid so 
little she depends on Medicaid for healthcare for her and her children.
  This is about the student who has no choice but to take on so much 
student debt that they know it will be impossible to ever pay it off 
and might not be able to start a business or buy a home or start a 
family or build the life they deserve.
  It is about the student whose great-grandparents were enslaved who 
today's Republicans are hell-bent on keeping shackled by hundreds of 
thousands of dollars in student loans to the point where their dream of 
becoming the first in their family to go to college will be torn away 
entirely.
  This is about the child getting ready to start preschool whose 
parents will now have to choose between putting gas in their tank, 
getting their car repaired, and giving their child the head start we 
know could determine their future and ability to thrive.
  It is about the moms and dads who want to work but know they won't be 
able to because this Republican majority wants to raise childcare costs 
that are already so high that it makes more sense to just stay home.
  It is about your parents, Madam Speaker, who could lose their ability 
to retire in dignity and the veteran who could lose access for 
treatment for PTSD after spending their life serving this country.
  It is about our grandparents who won't be able to afford the 
medication they need to stay alive to meet their grandchildren if 
Republicans cause a default.
  Let's not forget that this is also about the billionaire CEO who is 
bankrolling the Republican politicians behind this attack on working 
families to win themselves yet another handout that will be paid for by 
tearing food and shelter away from all the folks I just described, 
millions of families, just to buy another shiny new yacht or another 
vacation home or another fat check to those same politicians as a thank 
you for the favor.
  By forcing a choice between agreeing to their authoritarian tactics 
or default, Republicans are erasing the voices of millions of people in 
this country who oppose default, who oppose economic catastrophe, and 
who oppose tearing away food stamps, healthcare, Social Security, 
Medicaid, and Medicare. Republicans are using the threat of default to 
override the will of the majority of the country and bury poor and 
working-class Americans.
  Madam Speaker, we cannot and we will not let them.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. 
Stansbury).
  Ms. STANSBURY. Madam Speaker, I stand before you today to defend the 
very survival of New Mexicans; families like my own, working families, 
who work hard every single day and still struggle to make ends meet, 
who still struggle to put food on the table, and who still struggle to 
put a roof over their head. These are families who depend on vital 
services and programs like mine that enabled me not only to survive but 
to go to school and to stand here today as your Congresswoman.
  These programs save lives, and yet the GOP is attempting to hold the 
entire country, New Mexico, our families, and our economy hostage if we 
do not gut these vital, lifesaving programs or they will tank the 
economy to achieve their political ends.
  In return for upholding the full faith and credit of the United 
States and paying our bills as a Nation, right now Republicans are 
demanding that we cut funding for food, for housing, for Tribal 
programs, for education, and for countless other lifesaving programs 
that our families depend on.
  I am here today with my colleagues from the Progressive Caucus to say 
that we will stand and we will defend these programs because our 
families' lives are not bargaining chips in this crusade to cut 
government programs and services. Their lives and dignity matter.
  Just 2 weeks ago, I was home in our community and stood with members 
of our community at the Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless 
memorial wall. This wall is covered with tiles with names of members of 
our community who have been lost to homelessness: mothers, 
grandmothers, fathers, children, aunties, and uncles. These are people 
who were loved and people who were lost. They are people whose lives 
mattered in our community and were lost to the senseless impact of 
homelessness.
  Make no mistake, Madam Speaker. The programs that the GOP is 
currently proposing to slash will impact thousands of New Mexicans who 
are currently facing housing insecurity and millions of lives across 
this country, gutting programs around housing and food insecurity.
  These are families who could face eviction from their homes because 
they no longer have support. This includes families with children, our 
elders, veterans, and those with disabilities. This is not only wrong, 
it is immoral because housing is not a luxury. Housing is a fundamental 
human right.
  I also cannot believe that I am standing here today in defense of 
veterans' programs as well because the GOP is currently proposing to 
cut our veterans' programs by double digits. These are programs that 
serve our heroes who have dedicated their lives and put their lives on 
the front line in the defense of our country, our national security, 
and the freedoms that all of us enjoy.

  We not only have a sacred obligation to help and preserve those 
programs, but to ensure that the countless veterans who have already 
served our country can access the care that they deserve.
  These cuts could impact 81,000 healthcare professionals within the VA 
system. That means putting our Nation's heroes' lives at risk and 
creating even longer lines to see healthcare professionals. That is 30 
million less visits affecting over 60,000 veterans in New Mexico alone.
  Our veterans bravely served our Nation, and it is our responsibility 
to defend these programs because their care is not up for debate.
  Republicans are not only proposing to slash these programs, they are 
also proposing to cut other healthcare programs. In fact, more than 60 
percent of New Mexicans depend on the lifesaving care that they receive 
through Medicaid and Medicare or both. If the GOP were successful in 
putting through these draconian cuts in the default for America act, 
more than 280,000 New Mexicans would be at risk of losing their health 
insurance, and more than 21 million Americans would be without access 
to care.
  This won't just affect healthcare. It will affect the ability of our 
elders to get access to their Social Security.
  For all of you out there who are listening, you know how vital those 
Social Security payments are to making sure that our elders can eat and 
put a roof over their head and also because you paid into that system, 
and it is yours.
  Growing up, my family experienced many of the same challenges that so 
many countless New Mexicans and Americans struggle with today. The 
programs that we are talking about that would be gutted through these 
heartless cuts would not only have affected families like mine and my 
ability to survive and stand here today, they will affect millions of 
Americans. So this is very personal to me.
  Lifting the debt ceiling should not be a crisis. It has been routine 
for decades. In fact, under both Republicans and Democrats, we have 
raised the debt ceiling, we have paid our bills, and we have made good 
on our responsibility and our fiscal responsibilities as a country.
  It is dangerous to play games with the full faith and credit of our 
Nation and our economy, but it is heartless to propose to gut these 
programs.
  As the Congresswoman for New Mexico's First Congressional District, I 
ask my Republican colleagues to consider what these programs mean, the 
millions of lives that are standing at risk, the millions who will be 
impacted, those who could lose their housing, and the children whose 
mouths will not be fed.
  This is what is at stake in this hostage situation, and we will not 
stand idly by because we are fighting. We are fighting not only for the 
full faith and credit of the United States and our economy, but for the 
working families of this country to ensure that we do not balance the 
budget and make good on our fiscal responsibilities on the backs of 
working people because we

[[Page H2412]]

were elected to serve our communities and to serve our country.
  Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Garcia).
  Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise today because a couple 
of months ago, a freight train derailed in my district. Thankfully, the 
cars that derailed were not carrying any hazardous materials and no one 
was hurt. Earlier this month, another passenger train derailed nearby 
as it left the station.
  Madam Speaker, 25 percent of the Nation's trains pass through the 
Chicagoland area, and many of the country's largest freight lines pass 
through my district.
  There are children in my district who hop over mile-long trains that 
block their path to school.
  So why am I talking about rail safety when we are supposed to be 
talking about the default?
  Because in Illinois alone the Republican default on America act would 
take away more than a year's worth of rail safety inspection days--470 
to be exact.
  If they get their way, Republicans will make rail more dangerous in 
my district and across the country, and when accidents happen, 
communities like mine pay the price. For that reason, and for the many 
reasons that my colleagues are here to bring up, we continue to reject 
the Republicans' default plan.
  Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of 
my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks 
to the Chair.

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