During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) criticized Republicans' legislative priorities.
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00:00You're recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, when when
00:05House Republicans finally tire of all of this political theater, all of this
00:10kissing up to Donald Trump, all of the burning of Congress's precious time and
00:14resources for absolutely nothing but show, for bootlicking and sycovency, call
00:21us. We have a lot of serious work we would like to do with you. We have a lot
00:25of governing that we would like to do, but right now our country is careening
00:29towards disaster under the Trump administration. His trade war is wreaking
00:33havoc on the economy. Our constituents are struggling to make ends meet with rising
00:39costs. Agencies aren't able to provide essential services for the American
00:43people because of the mass indiscriminate firings of federal employees, facility
00:48closures, chaotic government takeovers by Elon Musk and his tech bros at Doge. Agencies
00:54under this committee's jurisdiction have been gutted, kneecapped from doing their
00:59work to ensure public safety, mitigate wildfire risks, or protect our
01:04irreplaceable natural resources. We're not here to address any of that today. In
01:09fealty to the president, House natural resource Republicans are considering a joke
01:15of a bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. If you were to choose a
01:20bill that perfectly embodies the Republican Party at this moment in history, this might be it. The bill does absolutely nothing,
01:27but it kind of says everything. It captures the MAGA anti-immigrant imperialistic rhetoric of
01:35right-wing cable news and podcasts, while also giving cover for the president to censor and retaliate against news outlets that choose to call it the Gulf of Mexico, which, by the way, is what every other country on earth will continue to call it. It tightens the stranglehold billionaires in the oil and gas industry have on Team Extreme, while ignoring the
01:45chaos President Trump's policies on the Gulf of the Gulf of America's policies are inflicting
01:52President Trump's policies are inflicting on Gulf Coast communities. President Trump might think he was the first to come up with this idea, the Gulf of America, but it was actually a comedian, Stephen Colbert, back in 2010. And at that time, oil was gushing from BP's
02:00Coast communities. President Trump might think he was the first to come up with
02:05this idea, the Gulf of America, but it was actually a comedian Stephen Colbert
02:10back in 2010 and at that time oil was gushing from BP's blown Deepwater
02:16Horizon well that killed 11 people and crushed the coastal economy of
02:20Louisiana. Colbert called it the Gulf of America because, to quote him, we broke
02:25it, we bought it. Republicans seem to have forgotten this incident as they
02:31advance their drill baby drill agenda, but as we approach the 15th anniversary of
02:36the tragic Deepwater Horizon disaster, I would like to remind my colleagues we
02:42continue to see record-breaking oil and gas production because for decades big
02:47oil has clung to sweetheart deals that it receives from the federal government and
02:52all of us pay the price. It's the surge in climate-driven disasters like the
02:57catastrophic wildfires in California, the cycle of extreme drought and flood across
03:02the West and the Midwest, supercharged hurricanes pounding the Southeast, and
03:06more. It's the unmatched levels of pollution in communities in the Gulf,
03:12primarily black, brown, and low-income, which have become a sacrificial altar for
03:17the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries. And while Trump and Musk
03:21destroy our economy, our communities, and our planet, congressional Republicans can't
03:26even be bothered to face their own constituents at town hall meetings. But now,
03:32after weeks of silence, Republicans finally have a plan to address this
03:37compounding crisis. They're going to rename the Gulf of Mexico. This is what they
03:42think the American people want. And talk about unpopular. According to a recent Fox
03:49News poll, the majority of Americans actually oppose this name change. They
03:53know it's a joke. They know it's a stunt, even if President Trump and Republicans
03:58seem to be taking it seriously. You know what's not a joke? Firing firefighters,
04:03weather forecasters, disease researchers, aid workers, destabilizing global markets
04:09with mindless tariff taxes that are wrecking people's hard-earned retirement and
04:14college savings, turning our allies and neighbors into enemies, threatening to cut Social Security
04:20and Medicaid services that will be in much greater demand once the Trump recession really
04:26gets rolling in the weeks and months to come. This is an insulting charade of America first.
04:35Nonsense at a time when the American people need serious policy prescriptions. Instead, we're
04:40getting stuff like this that makes our country a global laughing stock. I oppose this bill and I yield back.