Providing for Further Consideration of H.R. Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Spending Cuts to Expired and Unnecessary Programs Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, does this Republican majority have amnesia? Did they forget how we got here?

Congressional Republicans blew a nearly $2 trillion hole in the deficit by giving tax cuts to the wealthy and large corporations. That is trillion with a T. Now they are acting like they are great deficit hawks for bringing forward a bill that rescinds $15 billion in Federal spending. That is billion with a B. It is a tiny fraction of the trillions of dollars they spent on tax cuts.

You don't have to be some great scholar to see this disparity. It is right here on this chart. This really big red bar, Mr. Speaker, that plunges down to nearly $2 trillion represents the impact of the Republican tax bill on the deficit. It is actually $1.9 trillion. It is not good. That really, really, really tiny small bar on the right represents the so-called ``savings'' that this bill will provide.

For those in the gallery, you are going to need binoculars to see that line. To my Republican colleagues, I am happy to lend you my bifocals so you can see how inconsequential this rescission package is in terms of dealing with our deficit.

Now, don't get me wrong, $15 million is a lot of money, but in the context of what this Republican House has done to our deficit--blowing a hole in it to give tax cuts to the megarich--in that context, it isn't even a down payment on fixing the deficit.

This bill isn't the result of some great process. Mr. Speaker, there was no process. There was no hearing on the bill. The Appropriations Committee didn't go over these proposed cuts one by one, weighing whether they made sense or not.

This is the result of the whims of President Trump. He seems to change his mind about as often as he logs on to Twitter. How else can the majority explain slashing funds to fight Ebola the same day there is an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

You cannot make this stuff up.

It took language in a manager's amendment to reverse this, just like the majority was forced to reverse cuts to funds designed to help New York and New Jersey recover from Superstorm Sandy. Perhaps if you had a hearing and you listened to Members of Congress, you listened to the committees of jurisdiction, you might avoid these embarrassments.

This bill is also being considered under yet another record-breaking closed rule. That means no Member can offer an amendment on the floor to approve it.

Last month, Republicans officially turned this Congress into the most closed Congress in history. It was only May. We still have 6 months to go before the end of this Congress. Apparently, there is no end in sight for the majority's restrictive process. It would make Vladimir Putin jealous. This is not a process to be proud of. This is a process the Republicans should be ashamed of.

The cuts in this bill aren't harmless. They will hurt real people. Almost half the cuts in this package are to the Children's Health Insurance Program. This bill also hurts farmers by cutting funding they need to carry out important conservation programs.

This bill cuts funding for the Economic Development Administration, an agency focused on economic growth and private sector job creation, at a time when they have a project backlog nationwide. In my own congressional district, I have visited at least 10 high-quality projects seeking investments from EDA. These projects, and countless others all across the country, are now in jeopardy if this rescissions package becomes law.

These are not unnecessary programs, as the bill's title suggests. This funding was appropriated under the FY 2017 omnibus negotiated over just a year ago. Both parties agreed to it. The President signed it into law. Now, President Trump has suddenly changed his mind. Maybe it was something he saw on Fox News, since he takes most of his marching orders from them.

After spending nearly $2 trillion on tax cuts for the superrich and blowing up the deficit, the majority's bill is like putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.

Republicans are trying to trick the American people into thinking that somehow they care about fiscal responsibility. Well, they are not fooling anyone.

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