Rep. Chu Floor Speech Blasting Republican’s Rip Off Budget Scheme
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the House of Representatives debated the Republican majority’s Budget Resolution on the floor. If passed, this will allow Republicans to begin a partisan budget resolution process that will cut billions of federal dollars in benefits that go to working American families. Below are the remarks of House Budget Committee Member Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28), as delivered:
Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the Republican Rip Off.
Budgets tell priorities. And as inflation goes up and Americans continue struggling to pay their rent, purchase groceries, and afford going to the doctor, Republicans stand united: sell out the working class by ripping away health care coverage and food from children to pay for tax cuts for the rich.
This is the unbelievable but real cruelty of their budget: make devastating cuts to Medicaid for 135,000 mostly seniors and children in my district alone; slash SNAP benefits for thousands of hungry children and families; end ACA premium tax cuts that currently save families over $6,000 annually.
And for what? To give $5 trillion in handouts to those who need it the least: the ultra-rich and big corporations. And let’s be clear. My Republican colleagues will declare that this resolution is necessary to extending the 2017 Trump Tax Scam to purportedly help the middle class. This is a lie. The majority of the tax cuts that they aim to extend will only benefit the rich, and the middle class will lose so many of the benefits they rely on.
In their 2017 Trump Tax Scam, Republicans slashed the corporate tax rate and watched 100% of those benefits flow to shareholders, billionaires and high-paid executives. And what did workers get? A big fat zero. But even still, President Trump wants to cut the corporate rate by even more. What’s more, Republicans’ apparent concern for fiscal responsibility is nowhere to be found. Their budget will actually balloon our national debt in a reverse Robin Hood scheme that betrays working Americans we all represent.
My constituents deserve better. All of our constituents deserve better. I once again voice my opposition to the Republican Rip Off that will do nothing to address the needs of everyday American people.
Click here for the video of the floor remarks.
Click here for a report newly released by House Budget Committee Ranking Member Rep. Brendan Boyle (PA-02).