[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 109 (Tuesday, June 30, 2026)]
[House]
[Page H4330]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                    HAITI TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS

  (Ms. Brown of Ohio was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Ms. BROWN. Mr. Speaker, as often the case with the current occupant 
of the White House, it all started with a lie.
  Nearly 2 years ago, JD Vance got up off his couch and tweeted a 
racist smear that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were eating cats and 
dogs. Days later, Donald Trump shamelessly repeated it at a 
Presidential debate.
  They knew it was a lie. They knew those families were here legally. 
They knew they were working, raising children, paying taxes, and 
helping rebuild a community.
  None of that mattered because the point was never to tell the truth. 
The point was to make Americans fear Haitians, to turn them into 
scapegoats, to convince the country that Black immigrants were the 
source of their problems.
  JD Vance admitted that he was willing to ``create stories'' to 
advance his political agenda.
  We all saw what happened next: Springfield was terrorized. Schools 
were closed. Bomb threats poured in. White supremacists descended on 
the city.
  So families lived in fear because two of the most powerful 
politicians in America decided that a racist smear was politically 
useful. They never apologized. Instead, they spent 2 years putting that 
lie to work and turning it into government policy. Now, that campaign 
of fear is the official policy of our government.
  Last week, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to 
terminate the Temporary Protected Status, also known as TPS, for 
hundreds of thousands of Haitians, not because Haiti is safe, not 
because the facts have changed, but because this administration wants 
more people for ICE to deport.
  Haiti remains consumed by political collapse and humanitarian 
disaster. The conditions that justified TPS still exist.
  These are people who care for our seniors, build our community, and 
pay billions in taxes. They followed the rules. They trusted the 
American promise. Now, they are being told that a racist political 
narrative matters more than the law they followed to a T.
  This is not who we are, America. The House has already passed the 
bill extending TPS because the facts demand it and because decency 
requires it.
  Now, the Senate must pass it before the mass deportation tears lives 
and communities apart, all because of a racist, reckless, bigoted, 
blatant, dishonest, and disgusting campaign lie.


                        Big Ugly Law Anniversary

  Ms. BROWN. Mr. Speaker, while families are struggling to keep up with 
rising prices for food, housing, gas, and utilities, this President is 
focused on something else entirely different--himself.
  He is spending taxpayer dollars on a lavish White House ballroom. He 
is tearing up the reflecting pool for another vanity project. He is 
putting his name and image on anything he can.
  While Americans are tightening their belts, Donald Trump is building 
monuments to himself.
  One year later, Republicans are still celebrating what they call the 
President's signature legislative achievement.
  That law ripped healthcare away from millions of Americans, cut food 
assistance for families and children, made it harder to afford 
college--all to hand out massive tax breaks to the wealthiest people in 
America.
  It was a transfer of wealth from working people to wealthy people.
  Mr. Speaker, 17 million Americans have lost healthcare. More than 4 
million Americans, including 800,000 children, have already lost access 
to basic food assistance.
  Meanwhile, the wealthiest 0.1 percent received tax cuts worth nearly 
a quarter million dollars just last year.
  I will ask the simple question: How has Trump's big, ugly law helped 
the American people? As far as I can tell, it is just welfare for the 
wealthy and well-connected.
  Meanwhile, we have gotten higher prices, higher inflation, slower job 
growth, and an economy that works even better for those already on top.
  Republicans called it the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. I call it a 
big, ugly law, because there is nothing beautiful about taking 
healthcare and food away from families to pay for tax cuts for 
billionaires.
  Happy anniversary to Trump's signature achievement. One year later, 
the verdict is in: Working families paid the price, and the wealthiest 
Americans cashed the check.

                          ____________________