[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 184 (Wednesday, December 11, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H6810]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     AMERICAN PEOPLE DESERVE BETTER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Michigan (Ms. Tlaib) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, this Congress is about to vote to pass 
another obscene military budget when the Pentagon just failed its 
seventh audit in a row. That is nearly a trillion dollars going to 
weapons and war.
  When it comes to the Pentagon budget, not a single one of my 
colleagues asks: How are we going to pay for it?
  Why is it, then, when it comes to addressing critical issues here 
like hunger, poverty, our broken healthcare system, or clean water, 
they tell me that we don't have the money.
  However, even more disturbing for many of my residents and the 
American people is that many of my colleagues in this Chamber are 
profiting personally, financially when they vote to pass more funding 
for war.
  I introduced the Stop Politicians Profiting from War Act, which bans 
Members of Congress and their families from owning defense stocks. My 
colleagues should not be able to use their positions of power to get 
rich from defense contractors while voting to pass more funding for 
war. Our elected officials should not be able to profit off of death. 
The American people deserve better.


                          Fight Against Hunger

  Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, this holiday season, too many of our children 
are going to bed hungry while colleagues vote to pass nearly a trillion 
dollars for war. In the richest country in the world, millions of our 
children live in poverty, lacking access to necessities like food, 
shelter, and healthcare.
  More than 44 million people across our Nation face hunger, including 
15 percent in our Wayne County community in the 12th Congressional 
District.
  SNAP is a key tool in combating hunger. It has been very successful 
in helping vulnerable communities like ours, and it remains the most 
vital line of defense against hunger. However, many of my Republican 
colleagues want to continue to cut this essential program.
  We must protect and expand the social safety net and increase funding 
for SNAP and other programs to combat hunger. Working families in our 
country should not have to worry about where their next meal is coming 
from. Children cannot learn, Mr. Speaker, when they are hungry.
  By investing in universal school meals, we can ensure every child has 
access to resources needed to thrive at school. SNAP families only 
receive an average of about $6 a day per person. That is it. We must 
not only protect this incredibly important food assistance program, but 
expand it to make sure it actually covers the growing cost of 
groceries.
  We know that our families are getting price gouged every single day 
at the grocery store. If this body has money for endless wars, we must 
surely find the resources to end child hunger in our country.


                      Amnesty International Report

  Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I will read into the Record something from a 
recent report. It said: ``Israel has forcibly displaced 90 percent of 
Gaza's 2.2 million inhabitants, many of them multiple times, into ever-
shrinking, ever-changing pockets of land that lacked basic 
infrastructure, forcing people to live in conditions that exposed them 
to slow and calculated death. It has deliberately obstructed or denied 
the import and delivery of lifesaving goods and humanitarian aid. It 
has restricted power supplies that, together with damage and 
destruction, led to the collapse of the water, sanitation, and 
healthcare systems.''
  Mr. Speaker, I just quoted from Amnesty International's 296-page 
report concluding that Israel's Government is committing genocide 
against Palestinians in Gaza, as defined in international law by the 
Genocide Convention.
  Mr. Speaker, I insert in the Record a hyperlink to Amnesty 
International's `` `You Feel Like You Are Subhuman': Israel's Genocide 
Against Palestinians in Gaza.'' This report confirms what we have known 
for months. My colleagues can no longer deny this is genocide.
  The hyperlink is: Https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/8668/
2024/en.

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