Rosa DeLauro

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz), who is the distinguished ranking member of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Espaillat), the distinguished ranking member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I have the greatest honor to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the distinguished Speaker Emerita and, I might add, probably the epitome of the best Speaker that this Nation has ever had, in addition to which millions of Americans have healthcare coverage through the Affordable Care Act because of Speaker Pelosi. She is also Italian American.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from California.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), the distinguished ranking member of the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 10 seconds to the gentlewoman from Ohio.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum), the distinguished ranking member of the Defense Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Torres), a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the distinguished ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal), the distinguished ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. DelBene).

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Barragan).

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark), the distinguished Democratic whip.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, this bill fails to prevent healthcare costs from skyrocketing and fails to address the crisis of affordability. It fails to keep our promise to veterans. It provides a million-dollar jackpot to eight Senators. It fails to protect Congress' power of the purse. I encourage my colleagues to vote ``no.'' Mr. Speaker, I have the honor of yielding 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), our distinguished Democratic leader.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, Republicans have chosen a partisan route. In essence, the negotiation around the continuing resolution was a consensus that it should have been a bipartisan negotiation. That consensus was abrogated. Mr. Speaker, Republicans choose a partisan route. They would rather shut down the government than sit down and talk with Democrats about lowering costs for millions of Americans, preventing people from getting kicked off their healthcare, and stopping President Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought from stealing from our communities and our constituents. Democrats will not support the partisan Republican spending bill because it continues to gut healthcare for the American people. We are now 9 months into this administration, and the cost-of-living crisis has only gotten worse. Americans are struggling with the rising costs for everyday necessities. They live paycheck to paycheck. Instead of lowering prices, President Trump and Republicans passed a bill to strip healthcare coverage from more than 15 million people, threatened Medicare benefits owed to America's seniors, and slashed nutrition benefits for working families, which will cause an additional 1 million kids to go hungry. The majority did this to pass trillions of dollars in tax cuts for big corporations and for billionaires. They add $4 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years. Republicans' funding bills are cut from the same cloth: They help billionaires and big corporations grow their power and raise prices on the backs of the middle class and the working class. What is coming out of the White House is even worse. President Trump's administration, led by Russ Vought, is unlawfully stealing funds that Democrats and Republicans passed into law, the agreements that we have reached over the years. Democrats, Republicans, House and Senate, have said yes, and they have been signed into law. Now, an unelected official, Russ Vought, is stealing that money and using it-- for what purposes, we don't even know. This administration continues to freeze, terminate, and cancel $410 billion in commitments to families, farmers, children, small businesses, and communities in every part of our country. Billions of these commitments will soon be lost forever if Congress refuses to rein in this administration's illegal actions. As much as $5 billion for the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be wasted. Money promised to help farmers and ranchers drive advancements in agriculture is at risk. Over $1 billion in nonprofit security grants and homeland security grants that keep our communities safe may disappear. Hundreds of millions of dollars in resources to help Americans deal with the increasing cost of housing will evaporate. Put simply, this White House seeks to undo any agreement made by Congress. Russ Vought wants a shutdown, and House Republican leadership is handing it to him on a silver platter. He wants the confusion so he can keep stealing from our communities without accountability. These are not normal times. We are not considering this funding during normal circumstances. A vote for this bill is a vote for the status quo, but now is the time to stand up to the theft and disregard for the middle class, the working class, and vulnerable Americans. Now is the time to prevent the healthcare crisis and to lower costs. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle will say that healthcare costs are not germane to this bill. They should take a look at their continuing resolution because 67 of the 91 pages of that resolution deal with healthcare issues, whether they are healthcare extenders or whether they are healthcare for veterans. It is absolutely appropriate that we talk about how the administration has gutted healthcare, caused a healthcare crisis while increasing costs for people. Now is the time to put an end to the Trump administration's corruption that hardworking Americans are paying for. Democrats want to lower costs, deliver critical services to all Americans, and that can be achieved through the continuing resolution that Senator Patty Murray and I introduced yesterday. It cannot be achieved through a Republican shutdown. This partisan bill reflects a broken political system. Democrats want to protect the millions of working Americans who will be forced to choose between paying for food or their healthcare or the cancer patients and people struggling with chronic disease who will have to choose between having healthcare coverage at all or keeping a roof over their family's head. The Republican majority ignores the democratically elected Representatives for half of the country to appease their leader. Let us hope the majority does not drive us straight to a Republican shutdown, but if they do shut the government down, I have no doubt the American people will know who is to blame. I urge Members to vote ``no'' on this bill that fails to address the needs of Americans and join Democrats at the table. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I would like the gentleman from Missouri to understand that without the increase in the premium subsidies that were in the ACA that have been cut back in his district, the premiums will go up $760 for folks and almost 266,000 people will lose their healthcare. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz), the distinguished ranking member of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentlewoman that in her district, premiums will go up $3,300, and in her State almost 2.4 million people will lose their healthcare. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the distinguished ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentleman from Texas that in his district, premiums will go up $430. He will have to explain that to his constituents. In the State, 1.6 million people will be jettisoned from their healthcare. Explain that, as well. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal), the distinguished ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentleman from North Carolina that I think his constituents are just going to be very unhappy about an additional almost $600 in increased costs for their healthcare premiums, and almost 652,000 people in his State will be jettisoned from healthcare. Mr. Speaker, this bill is less than Americans deserve. We need to address the cost-of-living crisis and ensure this country has high- quality, affordable healthcare. The Republican proposal before us today does neither of those things. For this reason, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee. If the House rules permitted, I would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill. My amendment would allow the House to vote on the funding proposal that myself and Senator Murray introduced in each Chamber yesterday and would gain overwhelmingly bipartisan support. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert into the Record the text of this amendment immediately prior to the vote on the motion to recommit.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for the motion to recommit. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, let me just recall what I said early on in my comments. My Republican colleagues have, once again, chosen a partisan route. There was consensus amongst the people who, in fact, deal with the appropriations process on both sides of the aisle. We achieved consensus on the three bills in terms of the allocations and the top lines. We said, yes, we are going to move forward in a bipartisan way to deal with those bills. There was also consensus on a bipartisan CR. Lo and behold, there were no conversations with Democrats on a continuing resolution. As a matter of fact, if I can quote the President of the United States, he said that it is ``a waste of time'' to talk with Jeffries and Schumer. The President said that. In addition, he has told Republicans to pass this Republican continuing resolution, to jam it down the Democrats' throats. That is the direction that the President would like to take us. He would like to take us to a shutdown, and the Republican leadership in this House has taken this partisan route. Democrats have been overwhelmingly interested in sitting down and talking about how we keep the government open. The fact of the matter is, the issues that are on the table here in this effort that are critically important, yes, are healthcare issues. What are we fighting against? We are not going to support a partisan Republican bill that guts healthcare for the American people. When they continue to want to say that the issues that we bring up are not germane to this bill, it really is a fallacy. That is the fallacy because 67 pages of the 91 pages in this continuing resolution deal with healthcare extensions in one way or another. Whether they are for veterans or whether they are for others, that is what is in there. It is absolutely germane that what we talk about is how they have slashed Medicaid, the largest cut in history; that 15 million people are going to lose their healthcare; and how they raise the premiums for copays and deductibles. I am happy to share with all of my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, how much that increase is going to cost their constituents in their districts and also tell them how many people in their State are going to lose that healthcare coverage that they have. It is in black and white. It is there. The people of their districts and their communities are going to know all about it. They set in motion $536 billion in cuts to Medicare. As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, I have watched them shut off funding for medical research, including for kids with cancer, vaccines, and public health. This is a partisan Republican bill that guts healthcare, increases healthcare costs for the American people, and allows the continuation of an unelected official to steal the money that both Democrats and Republicans in this House and in the Senate have moved forward on to meet the needs of the American people. That has to stop. That is, in fact, the reason why Democrats are opposed to this continuing resolution. They are foursquare for keeping the government open but dealing with the needs of the American people. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), the distinguished Democratic leader.

Ms DeLAURO

Ms DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.