[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 154 (Friday, September 19, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H4481-H4482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                              {time}  1120
                       CENSURED BUT NOT SILENCED

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Green 
of Texas was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority 
leader.)
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, and I rise now to 
proudly yield to a person with great honor and integrity. She is a 
Member of this Congress who has been on the right side of 
righteousness. She is a Member of this Congress who stands for those 
who are among the least, the last, and the lost. She hails from the 
14th Congressional District in the great State of New York.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the State of New York 
(Ms. Ocasio-Cortez).


               The Kirk Resolution and Political Violence

  Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Green) for yielding to me.
  Today the Republican House majority brought to the floor a resolution 
honoring the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk.
  Charlie Kirk's assassination was a horrific and vile attack. It was 
an incident of political violence, and condemning the depravity of 
Kirk's brutal murder is a straightforward matter. It is one that is 
especially important to help stabilize an increasingly unsafe and 
volatile political environment where everyday people feel more at risk.
  We can deeply disagree and come together as a country to denounce the 
horror of this killing, and it is not a license for the abuse of power 
and whitewashing of American history.
  Today's resolution only underscores the majority's recklessness by 
choosing to offer this condemnation and honoring on a purely partisan 
basis, instead of uniting Congress in this tragedy with one of the many 
bipartisan options to condemn political violence in Kirk's murder as we 
did with the late Melissa Hortman. Instead, the majority proceeded with 
a resolution that brings great pain to the millions of Americans who 
endured segregation, Jim Crow, and the legacy of bigotry today.
  We should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was. He was a man who 
believed that the Civil Rights Act that granted Black Americans the 
right to vote was a mistake, who after the violent attack on Paul 
Pelosi claimed that ``some amazing patriot'' should bail out his brutal 
assailant, and accused Jews of controlling ``not just the colleges, it 
is the nonprofits, it is the movies, it is Hollywood, it is all of 
it.''
  His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant, uneducated, and sought to 
disenfranchise millions of Americans, far from the ``working tirelessly 
to promote unity'' asserted by the majority in this resolution.
  It is equally important that Congress does unite to reject the 
government's attempt to weaponize this moment into an all-out assault 
on free speech across the country all in the name of Charlie Kirk.
  President Trump and the FCC are now cynically threatening to shut 
down ABC and any outlets that gives airtime to the administration's 
political critics.
  This is a disgusting attack on the American people and the very First 
Amendment rights that define us as a country. It is also the ABC 
corporation's responsibility to refuse to embolden and participate in 
this corruption and escalation of censorship.
  We continue to pray for Mr. Kirk's family and loved ones in the wake 
of this terrible act. I am thinking especially of his children and his 
wife whose grief cannot be measured.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. I bid the gentlewoman a good day, and we will 
proceed now, Mr. Speaker, again.
  And still I rise.
  And I rise today, Mr. Speaker, with the notion in mind that what I 
have stood for I still stand for. What I have stood for I still stand 
for. It wasn't that long ago, Mr. Speaker, that I stood right over to 
my right, the seat next to the aisle. Mr. Speaker, when the President 
of the United States of America was here for a joint session of 
Congress, the President of the United States of America indicated that 
he had a mandate.
  I, with a degree of spontaneity, Mr. Speaker, from right over there, 
the second seat from the aisle, collected my portable items and was 
about to make my departure. I traversed up to the doors and made my 
exit as a means of protesting what the President was saying.
  However, Mr. Speaker, as I did this, I became overwhelmed with just 
the notion that something was going to happen very ugly and it would be 
something that would hurt people who are on Medicaid and Medicare. I 
also brought up Social Security when I spoke, but these are the things 
that I was overwhelmed with. As a result of understanding what was 
about to happen and knowing that the committee with jurisdiction over 
Medicaid had a mandate to cut more than $800 billion, I was 
overwhelmed, Mr. Speaker. I did rise to my feet, and I did say to 
the President: You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.

  My colleagues across the aisle became very rambunctious and decided 
that what I was saying did not merit being heard, so they performed 
very loudly. I am not angry with them. They performed loudly. I wanted 
to make sure that the President heard my statement, and I repeated 
myself and added Medicare and Social Security.
  My colleagues continued, and I continued.
  I was evicted, and I was later on censured, censured but not 
silenced. Yes, I stand today where I stood then. Censured but not 
silent I stand today where I stood then. It is best captured in this 
photo that depicts what occurred: censured not silenced.
  So I stand today where I stood then, and I stand today where I stood 
then because there is a CR that has been brought before this House, and 
if I had voted for that CR, then I would legitimize what I stood 
against.
  I refuse to legitimize what I stood against when I said: You don't 
have a mandate to cut Medicaid, Medicare, and I introduced Social 
Security into the equation.
  That is what this was about for me, today. The question was whether I 
would stand where I stood then or whether I would now agree that what 
was done then is something that I condone now. I condemned what 
happened then. My mind has not changed. The people who will suffer will 
still suffer.
  Mr. Speaker, why would I now decide that I am going to bless, if you 
will, condone, a CR that continues what happened, when my Republican 
colleagues did what they thought was right, I assumed, and passed the 
legislation without the help of Democrats?
  If you can pass the initial legislation without the help of 
Democrats, Mr. Speaker, then why do you want me to join in your CR?
  Pass this without my help.
  Censured but not silenced. I stand now where I stood then. I went 
out, and I addressed the press. I didn't go out to address the press, 
the press asked and appealed to me to come over. I was making my way to 
my home where I could watch the rest of the joint session of Congress, 
but I went over to the press, and I said to them what I said to the 
President. I am on record.
  Why would I now decide that I somehow conclude that what was done to 
Medicaid and Medicare is somehow something that I would now condone?
  I have said, and I continue to say that this piece of legislation 
that was passed--not the CR, but the original legislation, that one 
big, ugly steal of a bill--this piece of legislation as it continues to 
develop is going to hurt people on Medicaid. If you live long enough, 
Mr. Speaker, you are going to need Medicaid because if you live long 
enough, then you are going to need some sort of long-term healthcare if 
you are fortunate enough, and you are going to get that from Medicaid.
  I refuse to change my position. I stand now where I stood then, and I 
believe that what we are doing is the greatest cut in healthcare 
history. It is the greatest cut in healthcare ever.

                              {time}  1130

  All we are trying to do as Democrats, or at least this one Democrat--
I don't speak for the Democratic Party. I speak for myself and 
everybody who agrees with me.
  What we are trying to do is to protect Medicare. That is all that CR 
is about for me. It is about a lot of other things as well, but I am 
trying to protect Medicare as I tried at the joint session of Congress. 
I am going to stand where I stood then.
  I am proud to tell you that Democrats have produced some documents

[[Page H4482]]

that encapsulate--that are terse but very much substantive in terms of 
what this appeal is all about. The style of it is: What are the 
elements of the Republican healthcare crisis?
  There is a healthcare crisis. The Democratic Party has passed this on 
to me. I want to give them full credit for it. I am going to adopt it 
as my own, but I did not produce it.
  It says here--this is a part of the crisis--slashing Medicaid with 
the largest cut in history. I said that. I am repeating myself. Some 
things bear repeating. Slashing Medicaid with the largest cut in 
history. I can't condone that. If I had voted for this CR, that is what 
I would be doing. You passed it without my help before. Why would you 
expect me to support it now? I want to change that. I am not a status 
quo politician.
  Next point: dramatically raises premiums, copays, and deductibles for 
tens of millions of Americans. There are people who are living on the 
margins, barely capable of affording healthcare, and this legislation 
is going to make it impossible for some of them to afford healthcare. 
These premiums and copays and deductibles are going to go up for a good 
many people who can't afford them. We are trying to change that, or I 
am. I support this.
  It goes on to say: forcing hospitals and community health centers 
across the Nation to close. That is no joke. People are starting to see 
it. They are starting to express their consternation. They are starting 
to let the people know that somehow this must not happen. They want to 
change it. If they want to change it, why would I vote to continue it? 
I refuse to change my position. I stand now where I stood then.
  It goes on to indicate: setting in motion $536 billion in cuts to 
Medicaid. Mr. Speaker, that sums it up.
  I stand now where I stood then. I am a liberated Democrat, unbought, 
unbossed, unafraid, censured, not silenced. I stand for the people I 
have been faithful to in my congressional district. I am going to be 
faithful to them until the very end, wherever and whenever that occurs. 
I stand for what is best to help them through these turbulent times and 
the crisis that the GOP healthcare initiatives have introduced to 
people who are in need of healthcare.
  I close with this, Mr. Speaker. This is the richest country in the 
world. We cannot allow healthcare to become wealth care. We also cannot 
allow healthcare to line the pockets of the wealthy. That is another 
form of wealth care, healthcare to become wealth care for the wealthy.
  The cuts are going to line the pockets of the very wealthy in this 
country. That has been published. It has been accepted, it seems, by 
all or a good many except me. I don't accept that. I refuse to allow 
healthcare to become wealth care and do it in the sense that it becomes 
the wealthy who benefit the most from the cuts that are taking place.
  Mr. Speaker, I stand now where I stood then, censured but not 
silenced.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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