[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 208 (Wednesday, December 10, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H5119-H5120]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         INTERVENING IN GOP'S RELATIONSHIP WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP

  (Ms. Kamlager-Dove of California was recognized to address the House 
for 5 minutes.)
  Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE. Mr. Speaker, I want to just say that Republicans 
have endured a rather lopsided relationship with Donald Trump this 
year--dare I say, abusive. I hope you will consider this a Republican 
intervention. For the record, these are not attacks. They are just 
facts.
  Healthcare: Republicans cut $1 trillion from Medicaid with their big, 
ugly bill, threatening their own vulnerable constituents, when three-
quarters of Medicaid enrollees are in red States, and rural hospitals 
across this country are struggling to stay open.
  Republicans then shut down the government to avoid a vote on 
extending ACA subsidies, only for Trump to later come out in support of 
extending these subsidies.
  A recent Navigator poll shows that Americans blame Trump and 
congressional Republicans for rising healthcare premiums by a 26-point 
margin. Surprise: Americans also overwhelmingly blame Republicans for 
the shutdown. I see tread marks everywhere.
  Redistricting: The drama started when Trump called Greg Abbott and 
demanded five more Republican seats in Texas, triggering California's 
redistricting efforts that could cost California Republicans five 
seats. It is funny how my Republican colleagues were, are, and remain 
silent when Texas, Ohio, Missouri, and North Carolina gerrymander, but 
throw a tantrum when California punches back.

  Chip deal: I don't mean nachos or potatoes. I mean the AI, computing, 
and national security kind. For years, my China-hawk Republicans warned 
about the competition with the CCP, only for Trump to ignore them and 
green-light Nvidia H200 chip sales to China in exchange for a 25 
percent fee. What happened to tough on China?
  Boat strikes: Republicans have abdicated their constitutional war 
powers authority, allowing the Trump administration to carry out 
extrajudicial killings off the coast of Venezuela under the guise of 
stopping drug trafficking. Meanwhile, Trump just pardoned the President 
of Honduras, who was convicted of helping to move 400 tons of cocaine 
into the United States. My colleagues need to square the circle for me. 
Please do it.
  Deficit: Republicans who call themselves fiscal hawks stayed true to 
President Trump and got rewarded with $2 trillion added to the national 
debt, bringing us to a whopping $38 trillion. How many zeroes are in 
that number? Far too many for Americans to afford.
  Then, there was the mighty whiplash of the Epstein files. Trump and 
Republicans spent an entire year trying to block the release of the 
Epstein files, only for Trump to reverse course at the

[[Page H5120]]

last minute when he realized the release was inevitable.
  Tariffs and affordability: For a full year, Republicans said nothing 
while Trump rolled out illegal, arbitrary, and chaotic tariffs that 
raised prices across the board. In just 8 months of Trump 2.0, the 
average American household spends $700 more on basic necessities. This 
season's most popular holiday gifts are up 26 percent since last year. 
During the affordability crisis, Trump banned the word 
``affordability'' from Republicans' vocabulary, but ``affordability'' 
is still in the dictionary and still on people's minds. The economy is 
an A-plus-plus-plus hot mess.
  Farmers: Earlier this year, Republicans watched quietly as Trump 
destroyed USAID, an agency that bought crops from American farmers, 
many of whom backed Trump and the Republicans in 2024. When beef costs 
reached record highs in October, they watched again as Trump proposed 
buying beef from Argentina rather than American farmers. Last month, 
Republicans forced a vote denouncing the horrors of socialism. This 
week, they are applauding Trump for using it to bail out the farmers 
that his administration failed.
  Please consider this an intervention and get out of this lopsided 
relationship now.

                          ____________________