[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 72 (Wednesday, April 30, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H1738-H1739]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DTE RATE INCREASE
(Ms. Tlaib of Michigan was recognized to address the House for 5
minutes.)
Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, here we go again. DTE wants another rate
hike, 11 percent this time. Our families can't afford more power
outages in Michigan that wipe out groceries, spoil medicine, and leave
our neighbors without critical medical devices, all because DTE would
rather pad the pockets of their shareholders and executives than invest
in reliability for our families.
We know that DTE charges some of the highest rates, Mr. Speaker, in
the Nation, while they have some of the most unreliable service and
they perform hundreds of thousands of utility shutoffs per year.
The company made $1.4 billion last year alone. Their CEO made $12.5
million last year. Investor-owned utilities like DTE will always put
profits over the people they are supposed to serve.
[[Page H1739]]
These are companies that don't see providing us power as essential to
our daily lives. We are just another account number to them.
Now DTE is seeking another massive $574 million rate hike. It is
important to note, Mr. Speaker, that it was just a few months ago that
the Michigan Public Service Commission approved a $217 million rate
hike back in January. The Michigan Public Service Commission must do
the right thing and reject this outrageous, unreasonable rate increase.
Access to utilities is not a privilege; it is a fundamental human
right. Every single family should have access to electricity, heat, and
water. We need public power to all. We need utilities that serve
people, not shareholders. We need to take the profit motive out of the
services we all need to live and thrive on.
President Trump's First 100 Days
Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, it is hard to believe that it has only been
13 weeks.
President Trump's first 100 days in office have eroded constitutional
rights, illegally and lawlessly dismantled Federal agencies, and
consolidated power into the hands of the billionaire class. I like to
describe it not as shameful, lawless, and reckless, which it is all
those things, but it is also the cruelty of how it is being done.
The President has relied on executive orders to push through illegal
and divisive policies that circumvent this Congress. He has empowered
an unelected billionaire like Elon Musk to fire Federal workers without
cause and dismantle the programs our families depend on. That is
probably why they are losing in court. We are winning in 93 percent of
these courts because, again, much of what he is doing is illegal.
President Trump has attempted to override the Constitution through
executive order to end birthright citizenship, deport American citizens
without due process, including a 4-year-old with cancer, and he has
openly defied Supreme Court orders.
This is a constitutional crisis; that is a fact. We don't need to be
cutting services and critical programs for our families. We need to
make them work better for our families. Instead of gutting healthcare
and Medicaid and food assistance in our public school system, Congress
should make the ultrarich pay more taxes and make these programs work
better for the people.
Mr. Speaker, 60 percent of working families are living paycheck to
paycheck. Working families are worried about paying their rent,
covering the costs of groceries, and what they are going to do if they
get sick. No one plans to get sick, Mr. Speaker.
Trump's proposed tax plan only benefits the richest Americans. It is
a true fact; look at it. Even powerful corporations are going to see a
big tax break. He plans on giving $7 trillion, not millions or
billions, in tax cuts to billionaires while making working families pay
for them by cutting $880 billion from Medicaid and $230 billion from
food assistance.
Mr. Speaker, don't get me going about the environmental protections.
They have rolled those back, too. Our children deserve clean water, and
they deserve to breathe clean air. They are showing, again, a reckless
disregard for our planet and our public health.
Yet in the face of this harmful and oppressive agenda, we have seen
power in the resistance not only through litigation but in the streets.
Americans have mobilized in unprecedented numbers from protests to
townhalls across our Nation. Our communities are organizing, Mr.
Speaker, not only to fight back against these harmful policies but to
build a better and more inclusive future.
Now is not the time to give in to cynicism. We must stay engaged and
speak truth to power and come together in solidarity to fight for a
country that our communities truly deserve that is for the people and
by the people, not the powerful.
I always remind my residents, Mr. Speaker, that we didn't get the
Civil Rights Act or transformative change in our country or the right
to organize unions because of what folks do here in this Chamber. It is
because the streets demanded it. That is how we got the Civil Rights
Act and the right to organize labor unions in our country. Again,
continue to rise up and continue to resist this fascist government.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. DesJarlais). Members are reminded to
refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President.
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