James McGovern: GOP Budget Reconciliation Is 'By The Rich, For The Rich, To Help The Rich Get Richer'

2 days ago

At Wednesday's House Rules Committee hearing, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) slammed the GOP budget reconciliation bill.

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Transcript

00:00And here we go again. An emergency meeting. And what's the emergency? Not the

00:05tariffs that are tanking our economy. Not the urgent need to bring down prices. Not

00:10the fact that we have 47 million hungry people in this country. No, the big

00:15emergency is that it's now time to jam through Trump's disastrous budget. A

00:21budget written by the rich, for the rich, to help the rich get richer. That is what

00:26this is. A massive transfer of wealth from those at the bottom to those at the

00:31top. It's like Robin Hood in reverse. This budget steals from the poor to give to

00:37the rich. And it's not just Democrats who think that this bill is terrible. It's

00:41Republicans too. Mr. Norman, not here right now, but a member of this committee, said

00:46the Senate version is dead on arrival. Mr. Roy, a member of the Rules Committee,

00:51adopting a policy baseline does not change basic math. Mr. Ogles, the Senate

00:57budget bill is really offensive. But don't worry, Donald Trump is on top of

01:02things. He says, close your eyes and vote for it. I would just add to that, close

01:08your eyes, cover your ears, and hide your calculators. He claims he's got countries

01:13calling him, kissing his ass to work out a trade deal. I'm not sure if the penguins

01:19have called yet. But the bottom line is that he wants all of you guys to close

01:25your eyes and kiss his ass. And I'm pretty sure that you're all about to do just

01:29that. What an embarrassment. But I think that is a moral outrage. If you are

01:34willing to support this, we simply do not share the same values. For example, I

01:39believe it is wrong to gut Medicaid. I don't want to kick seniors off of their

01:44long-term health care. I think it is wrong to kick kids and Americans with

01:48disabilities off of food assistance. I think it's evil to give tax breaks to

01:52billionaires while you're telling working families to beg for table scraps. I think

01:57those are rotten, mean, nasty things to do. This isn't about fiscal

02:02responsibility. Give me a break. This is about choices. We are the richest country on

02:08earth, or at least we were last week. I haven't done the math since Trump's sent

02:12our economy off a cliff. But we are making choices here to steal from the poor. We

02:18are making a choice to help the rich get richer. My Republican friends want to talk

02:22about fiscal responsibility. This budget adds to the national debt. There are so

02:27many tax breaks for billionaires in here that estimates say that this package

02:32could inflate our deficits by more than $5 trillion. That's trillion with a T. So

02:38this is not just immoral. It is financially reckless. Budgets are moral

02:44documents. And this one tells hungry kids, sick seniors, working parents, too

02:48bad. All because Republicans in Congress care more about their rich donors than

02:53kitchen table issues. Because of this budget, kids will become malnourished. Because

02:59of this budget, grandparents will have to sell their houses to afford medical

03:02care. Because of this budget, more veterans will be homeless. Because of this

03:06budget, our nation will fall behind and our future will be less prosperous and

03:10worse off. Well, I won't be silent while Republicans turn their backs on the

03:14American people. This economy doesn't work for most people. It hasn't for a long

03:19time. And it hasn't because of budgets like this, where the rich get handout after

03:24a handout. And I think, plain and simple, that is wrong. Madam Chair, someday we're

03:31all going to be gone. And history won't judge us by the size of our bank

03:34accounts. It won't judge us by how many tax breaks we gave to Wall Street

03:39billionaires. It'll judge us by our decency, our compassion, our kindness. And yes, by

03:45our work to ensure that we build a society where everyone can get ahead and

03:49nobody is left behind. This is an immoral budget. And I want the American people

03:56to know, Democrats do not share these values. We reject this budget. And I would

04:02urge my colleagues to open their eyes, to read the budget, read the CBO score, and use

04:13your own judgment. Make up your own mind. And don't follow Trump over a cliff like

04:20our economy. With that, I yield back.

04:27Without objection, any prepared statements that our witnesses may have will be

04:31included in the record.

James McGovern: GOP Budget Reconciliation Is 'By The Rich, For The Rich, To Help The Rich Get Richer'

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