[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 88 (Wednesday, May 24, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H2588-H2591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1900
                       CUTS TO CRITICAL SPENDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Owens). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 9, 2023, the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Ramirez) 
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I know that many of our folks back home have been seeing 
or hearing the news nonstop about the debt ceiling and how much the 
health of our economy is counting on getting to a resolution.
  Well, it is May 24 at 6:59 p.m., and because of Republicans, we don't 
have a deal because they refuse to put people over politics.
  Republicans have made this all about political games. Quite frankly, 
it seems like they are happier to play under the guise of bipartisan 
negotiating to cut government spending, but there are real-life 
repercussions to the theater.
  Let me be absolutely clear. Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his extreme 
MAGA Republicans aren't going to be the ones who aren't able to afford 
housing or keep food on the table if they get their way on massive cuts 
to essential domestic programs.
  It is actually going to be everyday people across the country, 
including in the Third Congressional District of Illinois, which sent 
me to Congress to protect them from these cruel Republican cuts and an 
attack on our economy with bad deals.
  It is going to be everyday people like Estela, a constituent of mine. 
Estela arrived in Chicago 13 years ago from

[[Page H2589]]

Guatemala, fleeing life-threatening violence and seeking security.
  Since then, she has called Chicago home and has dedicated her time to 
ensure that others can also call it home, providing key information to 
protect renters' rights.
  Like many of the families that she helps and like many of our 
constituents on both sides of the aisle, Estela's family depended on 
Federal housing funding to keep her home during the pandemic.
  Now, as the cost of living keeps rising, she finds herself 
confronting the same exact problem as many other families: How do we 
pay rent? How to keep a place to live?
  She says, ``It is very difficult to see so many people be displaced 
from their homes because of the rising costs of rent. The cost of 
living is a problem that is affecting many families like mine. I have 
four children, and it is very difficult to afford extremely high rent 
and also afford our other necessities.''
  Now, you see, part of what makes Estela's experience so powerful is 
that this is the experience of so many everyday people.
  People are already struggling. They are already trying to spread 
their paycheck for enough to cover the mortgage, the rent, feeding 
their children, utilities, the essential basics we all need and 
deserve.
  Estela's story of struggling with housing costs while still working 
to help others in her community keeps me rooted in why we do everything 
in our power to protect our constituents from the Republican-made debt 
limit crisis.
  What Republicans are doing right now is reckless, and it is 
irresponsible, and it is all to guarantee their ability to try to win 
politically in 2024.
  They are willing to gamble with working people's livelihoods and the 
global economy. Republicans would rather default on the debt than come 
to an agreement that protects critical investments in our community 
across Social Security, SNAP benefits, veteran healthcare, housing, 
Medicaid, and more.
  Republicans want to stick it to working people to bear the burden of 
terrible cuts instead of making billionaires and big corporations pay 
their fair share.
  The question for me continues to be why?
  Why is it that they are far more interested in protecting 
billionaires and corporations than the constituents they represent?
  The Republican Party has a Republican-made problem, and Progressives 
are clear. We are not going to sell out our communities for a bad deal.
  Tonight, I will be joined by fellow Progressive colleagues who will 
share stories from their own constituents because we have too much at 
stake to give in to cruel Republican demands.
  I am pleased to yield to my colleagues who will share their personal 
testimonies from their own constituents and why we need to protect our 
communities from Republican cuts and bad deals.
  I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Deluzio).
  Mr. DELUZIO. Mr. Speaker, the bill our Republican colleagues forced 
through the House, the default on America act, is rubbish.
  They are threatening to push our economy off a cliff unless we slash 
the basic functions of government by massive amounts, but they are 
protecting tax cuts for billionaires.
  It is the very definition of fiscal irresponsibility and 
recklessness. In the bill forced through several weeks ago with no 
Democratic votes, with four Republicans voting against it, House 
Republicans voted for massive cuts with zero protections for veterans' 
healthcare, for rail safety, for Meals on Wheels for seniors, and so 
much more.
  They voted to pull back $2 billion from the VA. That is a cut. Now, 
their appropriations bill underfunds the Cost of War Toxic Exposure 
Fund by nearly $15 million. If they didn't want to fund veterans' care, 
they shouldn't have sent Americans off to 20 years of war.

  Do you know why Republicans are taking these extreme positions, these 
unpopular positions the American people do not want?
  Because what matters most to them is protecting tax cuts for the uber 
wealthy and for the largest and most powerful corporations in this 
country.
  Former President Obama once said, there could be an asteroid coming 
to Earth, and the Republican plan and response would be tax cuts for 
the ultra-wealthy.
  It is true. They are for the big corporations and the rich and 
powerful. That is who they are. That is their core value.
  This approach is fiscally irresponsible. What is more, their economic 
plan is not working for the people. Their tired, trickle-down fairy 
tale has been ripping us all off, starving the government of revenue, 
and has led to massive gaps in equality.
  Wall Street, big corporations, CEOs, they have done just fine. The 
American people, not so much. This Republican economic vision is 
killing the American Dream.
  It is driving up huge deficits in our government. It guts the core 
things our government does but makes sure that the richest people and 
companies in this country can still avoid paying their fair share in 
taxes.
  Every Member of this body pays the same amount in taxes toward Social 
Security as Elon Musk. You can look it up. He is one of the richest men 
in the history of the world.
  Elon Musk and all of his billionaire pals should be paying their fair 
share. They are not because Republicans want them to use the Federal 
Government to subsidize extreme wealth and corporate power.
  Let me be clear. This is not about punishing success and demonizing 
the wealthy. It is about fairness and fiscal responsibility.
  Many of my House Republican colleagues don't want to admit the path 
to longer-term fiscal health in the budget is to actually tax the 
ultra-rich at historically normal rates.
  Let's consider Republican President Dwight Eisenhower; hardly a 
radical. I don't think anyone here would call him a socialist.
  Under his administration, the wealthiest Americans paid a top 
marginal tax rate of over 90 percent. Today, it is 37 percent.
  We are at historically low tax rates for the most powerful, the 
wealthiest people in this country, and for the biggest and most 
powerful corporations. It is not an accident. It is by Republican 
design.
  Let's look back at the 2017 Trump tax cuts that I am seeing handed 
out to the richest Americans and biggest corporations.
  The bill was a massive wealth transfer to billionaires but also 
raised the deficit by almost 2 trillion--with a t--dollars. It gave so 
many of the benefits to the top 1 percent. Everyone knows the American 
people are being ripped off by this.
  We can feel the dark reality, that the American Dream keeps getting 
pulled away while Republicans help billionaires and huge corporations 
cash out on the public's dime.
  It is far past time for a change to real fiscal responsibility. 
Instead, Republicans are now proposing slash-and-burn cuts, defunding 
the government while urging the public to not look behind the curtain 
at their priorities for revenue.
  Our colleagues know they are holding the economy hostage to protect 
these massive tax cuts and handouts to the most powerful, the richest 
people who have ever walked the planet Earth.
  They are holding America's full faith and credit hostage to cut 
things that make your life better: programs like rail safety 
inspections, air traffic control towers, IRS auditors charged with 
tracking down tax cheats.
  Republicans are literally threatening to blow up the American economy 
unless we agree to slash nearly everything in government, but they want 
to protect tax cuts for billionaires.
  They still expect us to buy into this utterly discredited nonsense 
known as trickle-down economics. It is a fairy tale. It has never 
worked. It doesn't work.
  We should be creating an economy that rewards hard work, not just 
wealth. That means taking on corporate power and putting people first.
  We should be fighting for the common good and investing in our shared 
prosperity, not just the rich and powerful.
  That means instead of slashing the heart of government, we should 
make the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.
  Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York 
(Mr. Goldman).

[[Page H2590]]

  

  Mr. GOLDMAN of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the 
Republican efforts to extort President Biden and the American people.
  As a former prosecutor who prosecuted the Italian mob for extortion, 
I do not use that term lightly, but that is exactly what the 
Republicans are doing to hold America hostage to their extreme views.
  Make no mistake about it: House Republicans would never pass the 
draconian spending cuts that they are pushing if they had to go through 
the regular budget and appropriations process with a Democratic-
controlled Senate and a Democrat in the White House, and they know 
that. That is why they are using the threat of default on our debts, 
which would devastate our economy, to extract concessions that they 
would otherwise never get.
  You don't have to take my word for it. One Republican Member said 
just yesterday, ``Why would we negotiate with our hostage?''
  To understand how unreasonable and how twisted their rationale is, 
consider the Speaker's response when asked by a reporter what 
concessions he has offered Democrats.
  He stated one thing in response: Raising the debt ceiling.
  That is not a concession. That is their constitutional duty to 
maintain the full faith and credit of the United States.
  Our deficit is where it is today largely because of the excessive 
spending and serious, severe tax cuts that the Trump administration 
implemented.
  These same Republicans had no problem raising the debt limit three 
times without demanding any spending cuts.
  Republicans have a responsibility to ensure that we pay our debts, 
created on their watch, so we don't default and so the global economy 
does not crater, which would cause millions of Americans to lose their 
jobs, their benefits, their healthcare, their food, and their 
education.
  We could raise the debt ceiling today if any five Republicans had the 
courage to stand up to the most extreme voices in their party who view 
the default on our debts and the catastrophic effect it would have on 
the global economy as an objective in and of itself.
  Our Constitution states that the validity of the public debt 
authorized by law shall not be questioned. Yet, Republicans insist that 
this constitutional obligation does not apply to them.
  We must stop playing politics with our global economy, and we must 
stand strong because we cannot and will not negotiate with 
extortionists.
  Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressmen Goldman and Deluzio 
for the work they are doing in their districts, the work that they do 
here in Congress, and for their commitment to our country, to our 
communities before the politics that we are seeing before us today.
  I keep hearing Speaker McCarthy say in one of his many interviews he 
does a day--he spends a lot more time, I think, on interviews than 
actually negotiating or working with us. I hear: We don't want an 
increase to the debt limit.
  Well, let me break down what Republicans want. Republicans insist 
that we spend less, but that actually equates into spending less on 
public housing, on food assistance, on Medicaid, on other fundamental 
programs like veterans' healthcare, like supporting our kids, our 
families, our communities.
  There are no cuts to the multibillion-dollar defense weapons 
contractors, though. However, everyday constituents that sent us here, 
they should get those cuts.
  The Republicans' framework imposes drastic cuts that would result in 
a 33 percent cut in 2024 to what I said, like housing, healthcare, 
education, and so much more. They would put 780,000 people out of work 
and cost more than 1 million jobs.

                              {time}  1915

  It would strip up to 21 million Americans of Medicaid coverage.
  It would deny access to affordable college to 60,000 people.
  It would kick 200,000 children off of Head Start.
  It would force 100,000 families to lose access to childcare.
  It would rob 1.2 million women, infants, and children of nutrition 
assistance.
  It would remove rental assistance from 640,000 families and evict 
430,000 more from public housing.
  Republicans are willing to put the lives and livelihoods of the 
American people at risk. This is not just counterproductive; it is 
cruel.
  This plan would pull hundreds of billions of dollars out of the 
economy, and it could contribute to a recession, increasing the deficit 
that they so desperately want to address--or it is what they say.
  These are the choices that they are presenting: Default on America or 
a debt ceiling increase under their terms. That is it.
  Here is the thing: The American people know that those are not the 
only options. Those two are not the only two choices. There are other 
choices, from making the wealthy pay their fair share to getting a 
discharge petition to the floor with the help of just one, two, three, 
four, five sensible, reasonable Republicans. That is it. Five 
Republicans. They could be from New York; they could be from 
California; they could be from Texas. Five people from the other side 
of the aisle could end this hostage experience of the American people 
and stop punishing their own constituents by signing onto the discharge 
petition or we can utilize the 14th Amendment.
  From day one, progressives have been the most responsible and loudest 
voices in defending working families from Republican extreme behavior. 
That is why the CPC publicly called for raising the debt ceiling last 
fall. That is why CPC members were the first to sign the discharge 
petition to force a vote on the clean debt ceiling, and it is why we 
will continue to call out Republican games and hostage-taking.
  That is why we convened this Special Order hour for the Congressional 
Progressive Caucus, and I thank my colleagues who have joined me today 
and many others who are wrapped up in picking up calls from 
constituents who are calling and asking, what does this mean for my 
healthcare come June 1? What does this mean for my ability to get 
nutritional benefits come June 2?
  In conclusion, the looming debt ceiling crisis has been significantly 
exacerbated by the Republicans' approach and their steadfast commitment 
to place party politics above the well-being of everyday people across 
our Nation.
  As the June 1 deadline rapidly approaches, we all must recognize the 
gravity of the situation, and we have to demand immediate action that 
protects people over politics. The Republicans are holding the 
livelihood of Americans as prisoners.
  According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the 
Republicans' default on America act would cost States and local 
communities an astonishing $1.3 trillion. This would be disastrous for 
food access, for housing support, and for the overall well-being of our 
society.
  I am profoundly grateful and humbled by the courage of constituents 
of mine, such as Rachel from Mount Prospect, Illinois, who took the 
time to reach out and express her concerns, reaffirming my commitment 
to effectively representing their best interests in this negotiation.
  Rachel shared: ``I am really worried about the debt ceiling increase 
not being passed, or if it is passed that Democrats will have to give 
in to extortion and agree to cut Medicaid, veteran programs, and 
climate provisions.
  ``Congresswoman, please do not let Democrats and President Biden cave 
to House Republican extortion on the debt limit.
  ``If Democrats betray us by doing so, Republicans will simply do this 
every single time. Don't give in. Please vote only for a clean debt 
ceiling.''
  I say thank you to Rachel. Our shared call to action is clear. It is 
about 7:20 p.m. For my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, if 
they are watching, hearing, complaining about me talking about 
essential programs that might be cut, if you are hearing from your 
constituents who are just saying to you: We are tired of Washington 
politics, do your job.
  Well, I invite you to do your job, to join us, to actually negotiate 
and compromise to make sure that the American people are our priority, 
and not just politics of who can get over the other or a Congressman 
from Florida talking about you don't negotiate with a hostage.

[[Page H2591]]

  The American people refuse to be hostages of politics in this country 
anymore, and this is why I call every one of my colleagues: Have the 
courage, have the ability, and put your constituents above the 
politics. Join us. All we need is five of you.
  Let's be reasonable. Let's refuse to play into extremism. Let's put 
people over politics. Sign the discharge petition. All we need is five 
more patriots. Who will these courageous patriots be? Who will these 
servants be? That is the question.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________