    [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 2025)]
    [House]
    [Pages H873-H875]
    From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                           REPUBLICAN BUDGET BETRAYAL

      The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
    January 3, 2025, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from California
    (Mr. Carbajal) for 30 minutes.

                                 General Leave

      Mr. CARBAJAL. 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 this Special Order.
      The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
    gentleman from California?
      There was no objection.
      Mr. CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise on behalf of the
    Congressional Hispanic Caucus. A number of members are going to come to
    provide testimony tonight about what we perceive is a betrayal of our
    colleagues on the other side of the aisle of the American people with
    the recently passed budget resolution that really is going to provide
    tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans in exchange for cuts in vital,
    essential programs for working- and middle-class families.

                                  {time}  1900

      Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand here with my colleagues from the
    Congressional Hispanic Caucus to call out the partisan Republican
    budget resolution that passed last night for what it is. It is a rip-
    off of the American people. Their budget proposes reckless spending to
    support billionaires and make everyday Americans foot the bill.
      It cuts over $1 trillion, including $880 billion from Medicaid, in
    order to partially pay for trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the
    wealthiest people.
      These tax cuts would not go to help everyday Americans. Instead, they
    would go to the richest 1 percent.
      Apart from that, it also increases the deficit and the national debt
    to the tune of $4 trillion.
      What happened to fiscal responsibility?
      This is a betrayal of the American working middle-class families.
    There are 80 million people in this country who rely on Medicaid. In my
    district alone, over 236,000 people on Medicaid are at risk of losing
    their healthcare. This includes nearly 100,000 children and 24,000
    seniors.
      Not only that, but the budget resolution would also go after the
    Affordable

    [[Page H874]]

    Care Act again, and it is projected to raise annual health premiums by
    roughly $1,200 for 20 million people. It would force 7 million
    Americans to lose their health insurance.
      This budget resolution does nothing to deliver on the current needs
    of the American people. As inflation continues to grow and threats of
    trade wars persist, the cost of necessities like groceries, childcare,
    and housing will continue to increase putting a greater burden on
    American families.
      Their budget resolution also earmarks $200 billion to supercharge
    mass deportations that go beyond violent criminals.
      Make no mistake, Mr. Speaker, under this plan, we can expect even
    higher prices for food and goods, and it further worsens our workforce
    shortages. The reality is that undocumented workers make up 14 percent
    of construction workers and roughly 42 percent of our agricultural
    workforce.
      Mr. Speaker, instead of helping everyday Americans, the cuts would go
    to the richest 1 percent. This is a terrible circumstance.
      Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Espaillat),
    who is my good friend and chairman of the Congressional Hispanic
    Caucus.
      Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, today the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
    comes to the floor united as one unit against this Republican budget
    resolution that slashes at least 1 trillion--that is right, 1 trillion
    with a capital T--dollars from Medicaid and other essential programs to
    the American people, to working-class families, to seniors, and to
    children, threatening 80 million individuals.
      This is a matter of life and death, Mr. Speaker. It is a matter of
    life and death for our communities. At the very least, 20 million
    Latinos, about one-third of our folks, rely on Medicaid. More than one-
    half of the Latinos on Medicaid are children. They depend on it.
      Many of them are Hispanic, and they will now have to face a
    precarious situation where they may get an asthma attack at school and
    maybe that school-based clinic is not open for those critical first
    minutes of aid.
      Many of them are diabetics, and they rely heavily on insulin, and
    they may not have the Medicaid coverage for insulin to save their
    lives.
      So this is a matter of life and death, Mr. Speaker. This is not just
    a regular bill that we do in this august body to feel good or to maybe
    take care of a specific issue in a particular State. This is a matter
    of life and death.
      You have Latinos with renal problems, and cardiovascular problems.
    High blood pressure is at epidemic levels in the Latino community. This
    bill, again, presents a situation of life or death for many
    constituents across the country and the ones whom I represent in New
    York's 13th Congressional District, where over 500,000 residents of
    that district rely on Medicaid and over 100,000 rely on Medicare. So
    over 600,000 of the 780,000 people I represent are either on Medicaid
    or Medicare. This bill presents a clear and present threat to their
    health and to their lives.
      In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, Republicans also seek to cut $230
    billion in nutritional programs like SNAP and food stamps. That is
    right. Food stamps are being cut that currently aid 10 million Latinos,
    including 5 million kids. These nutritional programs are essential to
    their health and growth. So we are here pushing back on the cuts to
    food stamps.
      In my district, Mr. Speaker, there are over 200,000 households that
    rely on food stamps. If we multiply that by an average of three people
    per household, we can do the math, and we can see that it will
    devastate that community. This budget proposal by Republicans seeks to
    cut, again, $230 billion in nutritional programs.
      The $200 billion in this budget also seeks to supercharge Trump's
    massive deportation plan which will decimate the agricultural workforce
    by 16 percent and lead to increased food prices. Mr. Speaker, you can
    expect food prices at the cash register in the supermarket to go
    dramatically up. This is egregious.
      We are united in opposition to this betrayal, the Republican budget
    betrayal. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus stands at once and together
    in opposition to this Republican budget betrayal.
      CHC is committed to protecting Dreamers. Those are young people on
    average that have been in our Nation for over 20 years. They are nurses
    and teachers. They are bus drivers. They are members of the Armed
    Forces. They own their own small businesses, they own their own homes,
    and yet we cannot regularize their status. We support Dreamers.
      We are in support of farmworkers. They have to pick the crops and the
    fruits that come to our dinner table, and many of them are staying home
    in fear of being deported. Mr. Speaker, you can expect food prices to
    go up.
      Of course, we are in support of keeping families together. A family
    that is divided, when a mom or a dad is split from his or her children,
    that family is a weak family. They become vulnerable, and that
    translates into a weak nation and a vulnerable nation.
      So CHC, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is in support of Dreamers,
    farmworkers, and keeping families together.
      Latinos voted in favor of lowering costs and increasing wages. The
    budget passed last night only gives billionaires tax cuts and funds
    indiscriminate raids in our city, all paid for by working-class
    families.
      Again, Mr. Speaker, CHC stands with our community and rejects the
    Republican budget betrayal.
      Mr. CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Espaillat for his remarks.
      Before I yield to our next speaker, I wanted to reiterate: Make no
    mistake, under this plan we can expect even higher prices for food and
    goods, and it further worsens our workforce shortages.
      The reality is that undocumented workers make up 14 percent of
    construction workers and roughly 42 percent of our agricultural
    workforce.
      Farmworkers help feed our Nation and allow grocery stores to stay
    stocked with affordable fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, this
    reality is not what my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want
    to admit.
      On Monday I offered an amendment to the budget resolution so we can
    move forward the bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act to provide
    farmworkers with legal status so they can continue to work on our farms
    in this country.
      Not only is this the right thing to do, but providing farmworkers
    with legal status helps provide stability and keeps our stores stocked
    with affordable groceries and domestically grown food, also helping
    American growers.
      Instead, the Rules Committee blocked my amendment, and not a single
    amendment was made in order. We need to do better than this and deliver
    on lowering costs for the American people.
      I call on my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to reconsider
    this reckless plan that would benefit billionaires at the expense of
    everyday Americans.
      Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining.
      The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from California has 16 minutes
    remaining.
      Mr. CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Washington
    (Ms. Randall).
      Ms. RANDALL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, Mr. Carbajal, for
    yielding.
      Mr. Speaker, I come before you today to tell a very personal family
    story that motivated my interest to serve my community here in Congress
    and that continues to motivate me to think about the impacts on
    families all across my district and all across the country.
      When I was 7 years old, my sister, Olivia, was born with
    microcephaly. What that means is that her brain was small, and the
    doctors didn't know why. They didn't know if she would live, how long
    she would live, and what her life would look like.
      I grew up in a family of public servants, a bipartisan family, a
    biracial family, and my dad, who was a civilian employee for the
    Department of Defense, had pretty good government employee insurance,
    but that insurance wouldn't have covered all of the surgeries,
    specialists, and the equipment that Olivia needed to thrive.
      However, gratefully for our family, the Washington State legislature
    in 1993 voted to expand Medicaid. Washington was one of the first
    States in the country to lead that charge. For us

    [[Page H875]]

    that meant that we didn't have to worry about losing our house or what
    other bills that we could pay so that Olivia could survive and thrive.
    It meant that she could get multiple wheelchairs and use equipment like
    inflatable vests that kept her from getting pneumonia more than five
    times a year. She was able to go to public school and live for 19 years
    with our family.
      For me, I learned that government could be a safety net for families
    like mine. So for the last 6 years in the Washington State legislature
    I worked hard to expand healthcare access for folks all across the
    State and all across my big rural district where hospitals are already
    struggling because Medicaid reimbursement rates are low, where small
    clinics and independent providers are shuttering their doors because
    they cannot afford to stay open.
      So, Mr. Speaker, if you have a family with a disabled kid like my
    sister and you live in Neah Bay in the farthest northwest corner of the
    lower 48 States, then you have to drive hours and sometimes wait for a
    ferry that could be 2 hours delayed in order to get to a specialist in
    Seattle to get your kid lifesaving care.

                                  {time}  1915

      What will happen if this budget resolution becomes reality and if $1
    trillion is cut from Medicare programs is that we will see potentially
    per-capita caps. What that means is that we will decide how much the
    lives of children like my sister are worth. How much will we be willing
    to pay for the equipment and the specialists and the surgery to keep
    medically fragile kids alive?
      It will mean that folks without disabilities, seniors and low-income
    children, and folks with private insurance will struggle to afford
    healthcare in communities like mine and communities across the country.
      We are facing a real crisis in our healthcare sector already. We
    should not be adding to it by cutting $1 trillion from poor people and
    people with disabilities, from children, and from seniors who are often
    dual eligible for Medicare and Medicaid who are able to live in dignity
    until the end of their days because of this important program. It will
    keep long-term care programs open if we are able to maintain Medicaid
    funding.
      I am scared. I am scared for my constituents. I am scared for my
    neighbors. I am scared for the healthcare providers who are just trying
    to do their jobs. I am also scared for the impact that we will see for
    years into the future if this budget resolution becomes law, if we
    deliver trillions of dollars of cuts for families who depend on
    Medicaid.
      Mr. CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Washington
    (Ms. Randall) for her words.
      Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Espaillat),
    chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and my good friend.
      Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, we stood here tonight to warn the
    American people of these massive cuts in vital programs like the
    Medicaid program, SNAP, and the Food Stamp program, which provides
    nutritional assistance to our families, as the Republican majority
    perpetrates a scam to provide the very wealthiest of Americans a $4.5
    trillion tax cut at the expense of the health of the American people by
    cutting Medicaid.
      Medicaid is a vital program for Americans all over the United States.
    It is not just urban areas, but rural areas and suburban areas from the
    North, the South, the East, and the West of the country.
      Americans will be dramatically impacted by these cuts. This is not a
    Republican cut or a Democratic cut. It will impact people across the
    aisle. Republican Members have many constituents who are on Medicaid
    and Medicare and who receive SNAP benefits. Yet, the savings will go to
    the fat-cat executives and shareholders, the wealthiest in America.
      Mr. Speaker, we are asking for the American people to be alert of the
    Republican budget betrayal, that it is a life-or-death matter and puts
    their lives in danger by denying them the basic healthcare benefits
    that they are entitled to.
      Mr. Speaker, we stand here as one, members of the Congressional
    Hispanic Caucus, to say ``no'' to this plan and to tell the American
    people that they are not alone and that we are with them in good times
    and in bad times.
      Mr. CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                              ____________________