[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 17, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H4372]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   GOVERNMENT FUNDING AND HEALTHCARE

  (Mr. Magaziner of Rhode Island was recognized to address the House 
for 5 minutes.)
  Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, it was just announced this week that 
health insurance costs in Rhode Island are going to go up by as much as 
22 percent next year, costing working people thousands of dollars more 
per year to pay for their health insurance. This is money that people 
don't have. Most people in my State, most people in this country are 
just barely getting by. They can't afford to pay thousands of dollars 
more for their health insurance.
  It is not just in Rhode Island that it is happening. It is all across 
the country. State after State is announcing next year's insurance 
rates with double digit increases. We know why this is happening. It is 
happening because Republicans and the Trump administration just cut a 
trillion dollars from Medicaid, and now they are also trying to let the 
Affordable Care Act tax premiums expire.
  When you do that, when you take trillions of dollars out of the 
healthcare system, you are not just taking away health insurance 
coverage from millions of Americans, you are also taking revenue away 
from hospitals, community health centers, and doctors' practices. The 
only way that those healthcare providers can stay in business is to 
raise prices on everybody else, and that is exactly what is happening.

  We told our Republican colleagues that this is what would happen when 
they passed that trillion dollar cut to Medicaid. We told them that 
health insurance costs were going to go up for everybody else in the 
country, but they didn't want to hear it. They were so desperate to 
give away tax cuts to the rich, and now those people watching at home 
are going to be paying the bill in the form of higher healthcare costs.
  However, it is not too late. We can still restore funding for 
healthcare so that everyone back home isn't hit by double-digit cost 
increases on their insurance.
  Congress is about to pass a budget for next year, and we can pass a 
budget that restores funding for healthcare, that extends the 
Affordable Care Act tax premiums, that restores funding for Medicaid so 
that working people aren't stuck with higher costs for their health 
insurance. Not only can we do this, we must.
  I want to vote for a bipartisan budget that funds the government and 
protects healthcare for the American people, but if, as has been 
advertised, the Republican majority tries to rush a vote on a budget 
that does not fix the healthcare crisis, the healthcare crisis that 
they created, then I will be a ``no.'' All of my colleagues should be, 
as well.
  Republicans control the House, Senate, and the White House. If they 
refuse to pass a budget that protects healthcare, they own the 
consequences. If they choose to shut the government down instead of 
fixing the healthcare crisis that they created, the American people 
will not forgive them.


                     Restoring Lifesaving Food Aid

  Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, I rise for the 41st time to call on the 
Trump administration to restore lifesaving food aid for children 
starving around the world. Edesia Nutrition in my district is about to 
send 15,000 boxes of this lifesaving food aid to children who are 
starving in Gaza.
  Now, in the past, this would have been done with support from 
America, from the U.S. taxpayers, and the boxes shipped to Gaza would 
have said ``from the American people.'' However, because the Trump 
administration has cut off lifesaving food aid for children, instead 
this shipment is being funded by the Israelis and nonprofit 
organizations working with Edesia Nutrition.
  This is a missed opportunity for America to be building goodwill in a 
very unstable part of the world, one of many missed opportunities 
because when we act to save the lives of starving children around the 
world, we are not just doing the right thing morally, we are helping 
make America stronger by building goodwill around the world.
  The Trump administration has promised repeatedly that they are going 
to restore this program, but promises do not save the lives of starving 
kids. Only nutrition can do that.
  I will continue to speak on this floor every day until the Trump 
administration honors its word and restores this program.

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