    [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 2025)]
    [House]
    [Pages H865-H870]
    From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                                  {time}  1730
                              DEMOCRATIC PROPOSALS

      The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
    January 3, 2025, the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi) is
    recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.

                                 General Leave

      Mr. GARAMENDI. 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 in the Record.
      The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
    gentleman from California?
      There was no objection.
      Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, it is hard to say where to start, but
    perhaps I will simply augment what we just heard from my Democratic
    colleagues, who gave example after example of the crazy, uncoordinated
    attack on Americans that we are now seeing from the current
    administration.
      As we hear those stories of the reality of the programs that are not
    moving forward, the reversal of critical programs to protect
    individuals and their healthcare, to protect individuals in their daily
    lives as they travel, to protect Americans now and in the future as we
    address the issues of climate change and the enormous challenges, much
    more will be said about that in the days ahead. It definitely should
    be.
      Mr. Speaker, I rise today to deal with a positive message. It is a
    positive message that compares how Democrats would address the
    challenges of our time versus what our President and his DOGE minions
    are doing and what our Republican colleagues here in the House are
    attempting to do with their budget reconciliation proposal and soon
    their individual tax and other policies.
      I rise today as House Republicans are moving forward with their
    budget scheme that literally betrays the working men and women of
    America, all because my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want
    to put forward and carry forward the 2017 tax program that the majority
    rammed through this House without a single hearing. It was a program
    that created trillions and trillions of dollars of deficit and did
    little to enhance the American economy.
      We see the Trump trifecta in action. Trump and Musk, with the backing
    of timid Republicans, have traumatized Federal employees. Republicans
    have purged the military of competent, experienced leaders and have
    usurped congressional, constitutional power of the purse and power of
    the law by dissolving programs, such as USAID, which is authorized by
    law; the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau; and many, many other
    government agencies.
      Mr. Speaker, instead of reclaiming the constitutional power of
    Congress, our Republican colleagues are now pushing forward their
    budget that will make working families sicker, less healthy, and
    hungry, all the while giving $3.5 trillion in lower taxes and tax
    breaks to their billionaire donor friends and corporations. In the
    process, it will skyrocket the national deficit and apparently betray
    their own long-held view that deficit financing was bad.
      Mr. Speaker, the Democrats have a different version. It is based on
    what Franklin Roosevelt said many years ago: ``The test of our progress
    is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it
    is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.''
      It is our intention to create a level playing field upon which every
    American can advance and prosper. Republicans are doing neither of
    these. Worse yet, the majority will provide nothing for those who have
    little and give everything to those who already have so very, very
    much.
      The Roosevelt test is once again before us, and Republicans are
    failing at that test. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle
    intend to cut Medicare while making healthcare for the Americans more
    expensive.
      My Republican colleagues intend to cut student loan relief programs.
    They intend to cut Pell grants that are crucial for keeping not only
    students in schools but schools open all across communities of America,
    particularly low-income communities.
      Republicans will make our children go hungry by slashing school lunch
    programs and even school breakfast programs. The majority will cut SNAP
    programs, a lifesaving program that feeds millions of Americans and
    provides support to farmers.
      My colleagues will make our roads less safe by cutting critical
    infrastructure. Republicans will cut services that maintain our
    national forests and our national parks, as we heard. Firefighters are
    being laid off or not even being hired for the summer fire season.
      In our national parks, who will be there? Apparently my colleagues on
    the other side of the aisle don't care much for those people who are
    necessary for providing the summer programs in our national parks.
      My Republican colleagues will give $3.5 trillion in tax breaks to the
    superwealthy and to very large corporations, who often pay no taxes at
    all. In all of this, the majority will add trillions to our national
    debt.
      Democrats have a different vision. It is a vision rooted in fairness
    and rooted in the words of Franklin Roosevelt. We believe that every
    American deserves a good quality of life, a shot at success, a vision
    of a level playing field on which they can prosper and have the support
    to rise as far as they could and as far as they would want.
      We are here today to highlight our vision and to show the American
    people that there is a disconnect between what the Republicans want and
    are actually doing and what American families really need.
      Here are some of those policies that the congressional Democrats
    would bring to the floor if we had four more Members in our Caucus:
      Democrats will support working families. The first thing we will do
    to support working families is to expand the child tax credit.
      Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro's American Family Act will cut child
    poverty in half and provide critical relief for middle-class and low-
    income families by providing a $6,000 refundable tax credit to help
    families with the high cost of a child's first year of life.

      Democrats will lower the cost of goods and services for Americans. If
    we

    [[Page H866]]

    had those four additional Democrats, we would include provisions in our
    budget to protect American families from price gouging. It is
    unacceptable that American corporations continue to exploit the crisis
    and leave working families with the bill. Democrats will establish a
    Federal ban on price gouging, and we will hold those corporations
    accountable.
      Democrats will build and expand on the $35 insulin cap, which
    incidentally is a price cap that Trump removed. The skyrocketing price
    of this lifesaving drug for every American must be reinstituted, and it
    must be expanded.
      Democrats will expand the $2,000 out-of-pocket prescription drug cap
    for all Americans, and Democrats will lower housing costs by expanding
    the affordable housing programs, the low-income housing tax credit, and
    strengthening access to housing using a bill that I have introduced
    called the HOME Act, which will increase housing availability.
    Democrats will raise workers' salaries and wages.
      The third provision that we would include in our budget is the PRO
    Act. The PRO Act protects the right for working men and women to
    organize, ensuring that workers have the power to negotiate for fair
    wages and benefits.
      As a Member of the Labor Caucus, I know the importance of collective
    bargaining and protecting unions. Collective bargaining is the fairest
    possible way for workers to earn the money that they deserve for the
    work that they have performed.
      We will also push forward the Raise the Wage Act to gradually bring
    the Federal minimum wage in line with the economic reality of American
    workers.
      Mr. Speaker, Democrats will also defend Social Security, Medicare,
    and Medicaid. We will do this with legislation such as Representative
    John Larson's Social Security 2100 Act, which will increase benefits
    while ensuring that the superwealthy pay their fair share and secure
    this critical program for future generations.
      The House Republican budget scheme, endorsed by our President and
    designed to help the superwealthy and their billionaire buddies like
    Elon Musk, will cut Social Security benefits and Medicare and Medicaid
    benefits.
      In my district alone, the Republican proposal will gut Medicaid for
    250,000 of my constituents. My colleagues on the other side of the
    aisle will also go after Social Security benefits for those in need. In
    my district, 89,163 children will lose their healthcare based upon the
    budget proposal that the Republicans are pursuing.
      Republicans will also cut $1 trillion out of Medicaid, and that will
    gut healthcare services for millions of seniors, for pregnant women,
    and for children with disabilities.
      Mr. Speaker, the Democrats will defend our borders, and we will do
    this with wise legislation and comprehensive reform.
      Unfortunately, last year, a congressional bipartisan proposal in the
    Senate to pass historic immigration reform was killed by the current
    President, who was not then in office. He called upon the Republicans
    to stop, not to proceed, and my Republican colleagues didn't. That left
    us with the current crisis.
      We have a proposal. Congresswoman Linda Sanchez' U.S. Citizenship Act
    will modernize our immigration laws, strengthen our economy, and
    provide for a responsible approach to border management, family
    reunification, and for the necessary workers that we need.
      We will do better, and we will deliver actual results that solve
    problems, not create additional problems.
      Democrats will pay for all of this by making sure that we have a
    fair, equitable tax system in which the superwealthy and the
    billionaires will pay their fair share. We will not go down the path
    that our Republican friends intend to go, and that is to extend the
    2017 tax cut law that actually provided more than 85 percent of the
    trillions of dollars of benefits of lower taxes that go to the
    superwealthy and the billionaire class.

                                  {time}  1745

      We are not going to go that direction. The superwealthy and the
    billionaires should not have a continuation of that tax cut.
      We will also take a look at the cut to corporate taxes that was in
    that legislation. A tax rate of 28 percent was on the docket for many
    years until 2017. Even today, if we were to go back to that, it is much
    lower than it was prior to that time.
      We will not raise taxes on any family earning less than $400,000. We
    will restore the long-term capital gains rate to 28 percent, which is
    actually lower than the previous rates.
      We have much work ahead of us, and we intend to see that it gets
    done.
      Let me be clear, as you heard from my colleagues here earlier, the
    work that the DOGE boys and women are doing is a break-it policy that
    Elon Musk has brought to the government. He has no business being in
    government. He has no authority, or does he?
      In the morning, we hear from the White House that he has no
    authority. In the afternoon, we hear that he does. Either way, what he
    is doing is dead wrong.
      We know from the past that there is waste, fraud, and abuse out
    there, and we know how to do it. It has been done in a wise, thoughtful
    way. We tried understanding what that organization's purpose was and
    then looked for ways to make it more efficient and effective.
      I did this myself when I was Deputy Secretary in the Clinton
    administration at the Department of the Interior. We were told by the
    President and the Vice President that it was time for reform, and we
    set about to do it.
      In the Department of the Interior alone, we had just over 100,000
    employees at the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S.
    Geological Survey, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and others. We looked at
    those programs and said that it can be done better.
      The end result was that we reduced employment by 10,000, a 10 percent
    reduction. We made the Department more efficient and more effective.
    That is the way it can be done. That is the way it should be done.
    Wholesale reductions and firings, as you heard from my colleagues early
    on, make no sense at all.
      The contrast between what we Democrats have done and will do is
    clear. We know the Republicans are set off on a course to further
    enrich those who have much and to go exactly the opposite direction of
    what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, that it is not our goal to enrich
    those who have much, but rather to provide for those who have little.
      We will create a level playing field upon which every American will
    have an opportunity to rise and thrive to whatever level they want with
    a solid education program, a solid economy, and an opportunity to join
    with others to raise their future.
      It is our moment to push back and to stand up for working families.
    We will put people over politics, and this is our moment to build an
    economy that works for everyone, not just for a few.
      Mr. Speaker, joining me today in this discussion are several members
    of our Democratic Caucus.
      Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Tran), a
    new member of our Caucus from Orange County who understands these
    issues and will now share with us his thoughts.
      Mr. TRAN. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to announce that the first bill I
    will introduce as a Member of Congress is the Protect Veteran Jobs Act.
    The men and women who serve our country deserve our unwavering support,
    not broken promises.
      The indiscriminate firing of veterans by the Trump administration and
    Elon Musk's DOGE dishonors the unwavering commitment that these public
    servants have dedicated to our country. These heroes stepped up for us,
    and now, we must stand up for them.
      This issue is deeply personal to me. I am the son of Vietnamese
    refugees who fled war and persecution in search of safety and a better
    life in America. This country welcomed them and gave me the chance to
    succeed.
      I joined the Army out of sense of duty to my country because I wanted
    to give back to the country that gave me so much. I wanted to protect
    the very principles of freedom, justice, and decency that we hold dear.
      I don't see those values in the actions by the Trump administration.
    I see only division, fear, and cruelty.
      I have a duty as a Congressman, as a veteran, and as a proud American
    to stand up for those who made the highest commitment to us. It is my
    honor

    [[Page H867]]

    to introduce the Protect Veteran Jobs Act to reinstate veterans who
    were recklessly terminated under the Trump administration's
    dishonorable purge of the Federal workplace and hold the executive
    branch accountable for any future terminations that may occur.
      This isn't about politics. This is about basic decency.
      Veterans make up 30 percent of the Federal workplace, and when they
    are unjustly removed, it impacts all of us. From delays in healthcare
    and disability claims to staffing shortages at the VA, the consequences
    are dire.
      Mr. Speaker, veterans have our backs, and we must have theirs. I hope
    my colleagues will join me in supporting this important bill. Veterans
    gave everything for us. It is time we give back to them.
      Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Tran very much for bringing
    the message to the House about what the current administration is doing
    to harm veterans. I also thank him for his service, both in the
    military and in his work in Orange County. I also appreciate him for
    bringing to this floor and to this House his experience and this
    legislation. Hopefully, the majority will see the wisdom of it and make
    it law.
      Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Johnson), and
    I am looking forward to her thoughts.
      Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from
    California (Mr. Garamendi) for hosting this Special Order hour on this
    very important topic.
      Last night, 217 Republicans voted to gut Texas Medicaid, raise costs,
    and take away healthcare from over 100,000 of my constituents,
    including over 80,000 children and over 12,000 seniors just in my
    district.

      I love my State. There are so many great things about Texas, but
    unfortunately, we are number one in some of the worst ways.
      Texas leads the Nation in the number of people without health
    insurance--for children and adults. We lead the Nation in maternal
    mortality, having the highest number of mothers die during childbirth.
    We lead the Nation in infant mortality.
      Over 4.8 million Texans currently rely on Medicaid, over 16 percent
    of our State. These are not just statistics to gloss over, but they are
    children, moms, seniors, and our loved ones in nursing homes.
      The Republican-endorsed cuts will exacerbate Texas' healthcare
    crisis, creating irresponsible, political-based policy instead of
    collaborating for real solutions.
      In addition to the loss of healthcare access, many of those still
    with coverage will see their costs skyrocket.
      Under the Republican budget they voted for just last night, the
    average premium for 103,000 people who receive coverage under the
    Affordable Care Act in my district will increase by 69 percent. Let me
    say that again. Their premiums will increase by 69 percent because of
    what the Republicans have done in this budget.
      Many families would face even steeper consequences. In Texas-32, a
    60-year-old couple with a household income of $85,000 would see their
    health insurance premiums increase by $13,000 a year. That is a 181
    percent increase in just 1 year. Families cannot afford that.
      Mr. Speaker, I am all for cutting waste and finding fraud and abuse,
    but taking away healthcare and making it unaffordable for the people of
    Texas is not the way to do it.
      Texas Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security programs must be
    protected. They represent our commitment to the American people that
    their government will be there to help them when they are at their most
    vulnerable.
      The fact is that these cuts will mean life-altering changes for
    families across America and will lead to nursing homes being closed,
    doctors refusing to care for patients, healthcare claims being denied,
    and more debt and increased costs on the backs of families who are
    already struggling to make ends meet.
      I will ask this question to my Republican colleagues: Are you ready
    to take in your aging parents to care for them when your local nursing
    homes close? Are you ready to move your dining room table out and bring
    in a hospital bed because there is not a long-term care facility to
    take care of them?
      We have already lost 27 rural hospitals in Texas because of a lack of
    adequate Medicaid funding. It takes some people in our State 3 to 4
    hours just to get to a cardiologist after they have a heart attack--and
    do you know what? They are dead.
      This has real consequences for people when we don't have adequate
    healthcare. This should not be a partisan issue. It doesn't matter if
    you are a Republican or Democrat. When your mom is sick, you want them
    to have healthcare. When your baby breaks their arm, you want them to
    have healthcare. This is a universal human issue, and it is
    irresponsible what the Republicans have done in this budget.
      I am proud to stand with my Democratic colleagues as we fight against
    these devastating cuts, and I encourage my Republican colleagues to
    join us because their constituents want healthcare, too. Everyone does.
      Mr. Speaker, I am committed to finding ways to improve healthcare and
    make it more reliable and affordable. That is what Texas families want.
    That is what the American people want.
      Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I would like to have a colloquy with the
    gentlewoman from Texas if I might.
      Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from
    California for the purposes of a colloquy.
      Mr. GARAMENDI. Talk a little bit about where your district is.
      Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Sure. I am Julie Johnson. I represent Texas-32.
    I am from Dallas, Texas.
      It is an urban district with a lot of suburban areas. We have access
    to great hospital care there. However, we still have healthcare
    deserts. We have people who can't afford health insurance at the
    current skyrocketing prices that they are. We have very high housing
    costs. We have people with very high student loan debt.
      If you are a 32-year-old trying to live the American Dream and trying
    to buy your first house or afford your student loan, you can't do it
    all.
      Do you know what the minimum wage is in Texas? $7.75 an hour. You are
    trying to do the best you can. You are working at the grocery store,
    doing things that make our economy run, working in retail, but you are
    making $7.75 an hour.
      You can't afford health insurance that costs you $24,000 a year when
    you don't even make that, and that is the problem with where we are.
      Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I am certainly pleased that I gave Ms.
    Johnson an opportunity to expand. I thank her so very much.
      Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Dexter), a
    new Representative.
      Ms. DEXTER. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful to be here. I appreciate the
    opportunity from my colleague from California (Mr. Garamendi).
      I rise today to join my Democratic colleagues in voicing our
    unwavering commitment to protecting the vital programs that Americans
    rely on, prioritizing the working families that I represent over
    millionaires and billionaires.
      Last night, I stood with every single Democrat in this House to vote
    against a devastating budget advanced by House Republicans to enrich
    the ultrawealthy at the expense of our working families.

                                  {time}  1800

      I grew up in a working-class family. I am the first and only person
    still to have gone to college and graduated in my family. A union job
    offered me the opportunity at 16 to pay my way with rent and food costs
    in the city of Seattle, and then to go to college. There is absolutely
    no way that anyone in my district can do that with a part-time job at
    an entry-level grocery store position.
      House Republicans' plan is to pay for $4.5 trillion, with a t, in tax
    giveaways for the Elon Musks of the world to gut the programs that
    allow Oregonians to afford healthcare, put food on the table, and keep
    a roof over their heads.
      As a physician, I know that access to healthcare is literally a
    matter of life and death. I am terrified about what it means for my
    district, where 200,000 people are at risk of losing their healthcare.
    Many of them are children, disabled members of our community, and our
    seniors. They will have to go without Medicaid services.
      Now, don't get me wrong, it does not say anywhere in that budget
    resolution

    [[Page H868]]

    that healthcare and Medicaid are going to get cut, but make no mistake,
    $880 billion in tax cuts cannot be done any other way.
      In the days leading up to this vote, I received heart-wrenching call
    after heart-wrenching call from constituents desperate for an answer as
    to why the Trump-Musk administration is pursuing this agenda of cruel
    chaos and how they will survive it.
      To each of those Oregonians who called, please know that no matter
    the odds, I will use every tool at my disposal, with my colleagues, to
    expose this great betrayal for what it is. I will stop at nothing to
    safeguard the programs that my constituents rely on, and I will call on
    my Republican colleagues to have courage in this moment of great need
    for their communities as well.
      Mr. GARAMENDI. If I might, I would like to yield to the gentlewoman
    for a little colloquy.
      Your experience before you came here, you were a physician?
      Ms. DEXTER. Yes.
      Mr. GARAMENDI. What was your practice?
      Ms. DEXTER. I am a pulmonologist, meaning I take care of people with
    lung disease, and a critical care physician, caring for people who are
    on life support in our intensive care units.
      Mr. GARAMENDI. You did this in the district which you now represent,
    which is what, part of Oregon?
      Ms. DEXTER. It is Oregon's Third Congressional District, which is
    Portland to the beautiful mountain, Mount Hood, which is emblematic of
    our State.
      Mr. GARAMENDI. Your experience is going to be invaluable as we work
    through this very difficult period of time. I thank you for bringing
    the message to the floor and to the American people. It is very, very
    important that they understand the depth and the trauma that the
    proposed budget will create and the alternative that you put forward.
    Thank you very much for joining us.
      I now welcome to the floor the gentlewoman from California, Laura
    Friedman. I happen to know where she is from, so I won't ask her,
    although she should certainly tell all of us about her district and her
    vision. I yield to the gentlewoman.
      Ms. FRIEDMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Garamendi for
    organizing this Special Order this evening.
      I am Laura Friedman, and I represent the 30th Congressional District
    in Los Angeles, a district that has really undergone a terrible tragedy
    with fires, for which we are very much hoping for the kind of support
    from the Federal Government that so many other regions have received
    unconditionally after natural disasters.
      Last night, I stood on this House floor, united with every single
    House Democrat, to stand in opposition to the Republicans' slash-and-
    burn budget scheme that will take critical programs away from
    hardworking Americans that so many of us rely on, particularly in these
    difficult times.
      Now, was this done by the Republicans out of a sense of fiscal
    responsibility?
      Well, I have got to say no. It is not fiscally responsible to take
    money away from Americans just to provide a $4.5 trillion tax break to
    the richest 1 percent of this country and to large corporations who
    weren't even asking for a tax break.
      Let's be clear: This slash-and-burn budget is an attack on families,
    seniors, veterans, and children. It is a direct attack on Medicaid,
    meaning that fewer families will have access to affordable healthcare
    at a time when healthcare access is so out of reach for Americans.
      It is an attack on SNAP food benefits, leaving millions struggling to
    put food on the table.
      It is an attack on Head Start, robbing children of the most critical
    early education opportunities, opportunities that will lift young
    people out of poverty.
      It is even an attack on the tax credit and on many other programs
    that help our young people afford a higher education. That will make it
    harder for the next generation to afford college. It will also have the
    effect of stifling innovation, weakening Americans' ability to lead by
    staying on the cutting edge of technology.
      Now, in California we very much value our public education system. We
    have Silicon Valley, the entertainment industry, and huge biotech
    industries. Those are all fueled by the education that our UC system
    and our private colleges provide. However, because of this budget, so
    many young people who today are able to achieve that education and
    power our economy in California, which powers the United States'
    economy, just leaves us with a brain drain that will keep us from being
    competitive with other nations.
      Why is this happening?
      It is just to pad the pockets of the wealthiest Americans, the same
    people who don't need another handout. Trump's tax proposals will give
    the richest 1 percent an average tax break of more than $300,000. Think
    about that, $300,000.
      What do Californians and Americans across the Nation get in return?
    What do ordinary people get?
      They get higher costs. They get worse services as we lay off public
    employees. Those are the same people who answer the phone if you need
    to help a veteran get services or help yourself get Social Security or
    need to access Medicaid. The people who answer those phones are being
    laid off. That will make lives harder for our families.
      In fact, on average, families making less than $157,000 a year are
    going to see their taxes increase by more than $1,500. That is higher
    taxes on more than 265 million Americans. Instead of making life more
    affordable, this is going to make it harder for people to get by.
      For all the talking that Republicans do about cutting the deficit,
    with more than $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for the ultrawealthy, this
    is an upside-down approach that will still manage to increase and blow
    up the debt by almost $3 trillion. That is not responsible governing.
    That is not fiscal responsibility. It is slashing critical programs,
    raising taxes on the majority of Americans, and handing out checks to
    the top 1 percent. It is a betrayal of the American people.
      I am now, and I will always be, a big fat ``hell no'' on this slash-
    and-burn Republican budget. Democrats stand united against raising
    costs on American families, and I will continue to fight for an economy
    that puts hardworking families first and that will invest in the kind
    of educational opportunities that will truly make our Nation great.
      Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Friedman. I would like to
    yield to the gentlewoman for a short colloquy.
      You raised the issue of education. If our goal is, as I said earlier
    with the Roosevelt quote, that our task is to do for those who have
    little, it really begins with education. If we have a good, solid
    education program, then people will have the ability to get on a level
    playing field and to move to wherever they may want to go in terms of
    their quality of life, as well as whatever income they might achieve.
      You were talking earlier about the education cuts. If you would like
    to expand on that, perhaps the two of us or you alone can bring to this
    floor the devastating cuts that are being discussed with the
    termination of the Department of Education.
      Ms. FRIEDMAN. Absolutely. I am a mom, and I have an 11-year-old. One
    of the most important things to me is to make sure that my daughter has
    access to the highest quality education possible so that she can
    achieve as much as she is capable of.
      That starts right at kindergarten and goes all the way up to wherever
    she wants to go, whether that is through high school, into a trade
    school or to higher education. All of us want to know that if our child
    can get into a college that we can afford to send them there.
      So many Americans worry, can I pay for my child's education? So many
    people in my district and other districts worry whether or not their
    child is getting a quality education at their public schools.
      I was at a school this week that has Head Start, where a majority of
    their children are taking advantage of Head Start because they are low
    income. In fact, at the particular school in my district that I toured,
    they also educate children with disabilities, children who are blind or
    have autism. Head Start is what supports a lot of that.

    [[Page H869]]

      The Department of Education is tasked with making sure that we have
    an equitable distribution of resources around the country, and if a
    child is facing any kind of discrimination in their school, if they are
    not able to access Head Start, if they are not able to access programs
    because of their disability, the Department of Education is there to
    make sure that they get what they deserve, what their taxpaying parents
    are paying for. Without that, there is no guarantee that this money
    gets to these young children.
      Mr. GARAMENDI. There are also very important programs at the higher
    education level.
      Ms. FRIEDMAN. That is right. I have spoken to a lot of our
    universities that have seen either the programs that they use to
    deliver scholarships to children who couldn't otherwise go to college
    be frozen and certainly threatened by this budget.
      In addition, one of the great benefits of our universities is the
    research that they do. This is research that powers our economy, that
    gives us the next generation of inventors, and gives us the inventions
    which have led to the internet, which have led to a lot of what we do
    with the space program, which leads to advancements in clean energy.
    All of those are being piloted through our universities. They have seen
    their funding frozen, absolutely frozen.
      Even though a Federal judge told the Trump administration that that
    was illegal and those payments have started again, they are unsure
    whether that money is going to continue. Clearly, the administration's
    goal is to end the funding for that kind of R&D that is done at every
    university, which is part of our kids' education and part of the
    production of the United States of America. These are the things that
    we are proud of coming out of our national labs and coming out of our
    universities.
      The benefits are for education, but they are also to power our
    economy through the inventions that the American mind has been able to
    create.
      Why would we stop that? Why would we stop the very engine of our
    advancement in the world, the thing that makes us the number one Nation
    on Earth? Why would we want to cut the funding off for that? It doesn't
    make any sense.
      People who are undergoing programs right now that have seen some
    funding coming back can't even reach the NIH, who administers these
    grants, because of a gag order from this administration. There are so
    many threats through this budget and through this administration, to
    college, to your kids' ability to access higher education, and to the
    very institutions that make up our collegiate system in the United
    States.
      Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you so much for bringing that to all of our
    attention.
      Earlier today, I met with the chancellor of the University of
    California, Berkeley, and we discussed much of what you just brought to
    our attention.
      The research that has been undertaken at UC Berkeley has in the
    previous year, 2024, created 1,618 new small businesses directly as a
    result of the research and the effort that the university is making to
    nurture these startup businesses. These are the businesses of the
    future that are using the research, which you very correctly brought to
    our attention, that is being cut.
      That research has led to innovation, new technologies, and new
    solutions. Perhaps you would like to expand on that.
      Ms. FRIEDMAN. Yes. Besides being a mom, I am a breast cancer
    survivor. After I was diagnosed, I found out that one of the treatments
    that has been a revolution in terms of saving the lives of women
    suffering from breast cancer was developed, I believe, at UCLA.
      So many of our medical advancements come through the R&D that is done
    at our universities. That is funding that right now is frozen and
    funding that is under direct threat.
      For those of us who care about the health and well-being of our
    families, it is not just about Medicaid, even though that is important.
    It is also about the treatments of the future that have already shown
    so much progress not only for the United States to be able to sell
    treatments around the world, but to cure diseases like cancer, to treat
    heart disease, to help with longevity.
      Those come through our universities as well, through partnerships
    that they have with private industry. We are talking a huge section of
    our economy that not only drives us in terms of jobs and making life
    more affordable, but literally keeps us alive. That is all right now on
    the chopping block in the Republican budget.

                                  {time}  1815

      Mr. Speaker, it is very--when you get down into the details here, the
    research programs, some are stopped. Some will not be refunded and will
    not go forward. It appears as though the proposal that the
    administration or the policy that they are pursuing is to limit the
    money that the university uses to build the facilities and to provide
    the equipment.
      I believe 15 percent--it is about a 50 percent cut from the current
    funding. The result of that would seem to be, well, certainly that
    isn't direct; but it is. It is the foundation upon which that research
    is being used by multiple researchers. It is the hospitals and it is
    the laboratories.
      I would draw the attention of the House to beware of this proposal
    that is actually being implemented now to reduce the total research
    money that is available for the foundation upon which the individual
    researchers carry out their research.
      The bottom line of this is that America's progress really comes in
    five different ways. This has been something I have been working on for
    many years.
      First, it is the best education system in the world, as the
    gentlewoman put forward in her comments, it is absolutely fundamental.
    If you get a good education, you have a chance. If our society has
    well-educated children, then there will be advancements.
      Secondly, research is tomorrow's economy. We have seen this through
    the years. It has certainly been one of the critical elements of
    California's success in building the fourth or fifth biggest economy in
    the world.
      Thirdly, infrastructure--infrastructure comes in many ways. It is the
    facilities that the researchers use at the universities. It is the
    roads, the streets, the sewer systems, and the like.
      I suspect that in the Republican budget proposal there will be
    reductions in critical research, particularly in the research but also
    in the infrastructure. It is particularly in that portion of the
    infrastructure that allows us to deal with the critical issue of
    climate change which brings me to that issue and the infrastructure
    needed to address that. That is electrical systems, grid systems, and
    the like.
      We also need to make sure that in this process we not only pay
    attention to those elements but we also pay attention to the
    international situation that is out there. We compete internationally.
      The solution that the President is proposing is that we are going to
    protect ourselves with tariffs. If we are interested in keeping the
    cost to individuals down, then don't go to tariffs. There is a need for
    balance here, and tariffs have a role. No doubt about it. The use of
    tariffs being proposed by the President will raise costs and will not
    enhance because the other elements that we need--a well-educated
    society, infrastructure, and access to research--will not be available.
      We have a complex situation out in front of us. I thank the
    gentlewoman so very much for joining us today and for bringing to all
    of us the issues that she is concerned with in her district and with
    her family. I thank my colleague so much for joining us.
      We are now near the end of this Special Order hour. I notice that my
    Republican colleagues have hopefully been listening carefully and have
    learned and would not continue to pursue policies that are detrimental
    to the progress of our Nation. I would also hope that they would keep
    in mind Franklin Delano Roosevelt's words: ``The test of our progress
    is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it
    is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.''
      I would add to that, that we create a level playing field and that we
    pursue policies that create that level playing field, that provide
    access to education, and that provide the necessary support for
    families who are in need. We can do better.

    [[Page H870]]

      Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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