(As prepared for delivery)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
With just days to go before Republicans skip town for more than a month, they’re using what time they have left jamming the House with a partisan budget and messaging bills.
This is the third markup this Committee has held in a month, and you still won’t find a single bill that will bring relief to families struggling under the weight of higher health care bills, pain at the pump, or rising grocery costs. Instead, the majority is using the limited time we have to recycle old bills attacking charities and unions. Every moment Republicans spend chasing manufactured problems and targeting the little guy is another moment they’re not focused on families back home, who are still wondering when House Republicans will lift a finger to help them.
You won’t find one word about what the majority is doing to bring down costs. What you will find is plenty of funding for Trump’s war machine and wild goose chases for solutions to problems that don’t exist. But if they’re so serious about doing right by taxpayers, they should start by demanding answers about the senior Treasury official who was forced out last week for refusing to go along with the Trump Administration’s politicization of tax audits. Or perhaps we’ll get answers as to why Trump’s $400 million jet, donated by a foreign government, isn’t even safe to fly. Maybe the majority can get us a few details about the $500 million no-bid contract for the President’s ballroom or his botched vanity projects around Washington.
This markup also comes on the heels of the President imposing even more price hikes on the American people. He cited wildfires as the reason for slapping one of our closest allies and trading partners with an additional 50 percent tariff. While he scrambles to justify his rationale, the American people are once again paying the price for an incoherent trade policy driven by grievance and retaliation. The only reason President Trump continues to get a free pass to unilaterally hike costs on the American people is because House Republicans won’t stand up to him. They pay no mind to their constitutional duty to stand up to the President, rein in his chaotic trade policy, and lower costs for their constituents. We could mark up legislation right now to revoke his tax immunity agreement, dissolve the ballroom project, or turn off Trump’s price hikes, if only the majority would stiffen their spines.
The American people expect more than this. While Republicans jam another partisan budget and a more than $200 billion increase in military spending down their throats, families are watching gas prices climb back above $4 a gallon. Republicans would even rather use taxpayer dollars in their budget to bankroll voter suppression than help struggling families afford health care or put food on the table. That’s not a budget. It’s betrayal. And the American people see right through it.
I yield back.
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