Providing for the Adoption of S. Con. Res. Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, in Missouri, we have this phrase that says: You are all hat and no cattle. That is what this legislation is. It is all hat and no cattle.

We just had the Speaker speak right before me and said this piece of legislation is all about getting vaccines and shots in people's arms. Let me tell you, less than 10 percent of the money that is appropriated in this piece of legislation actually goes to vaccines and shots. It is 9 percent.

That is all hat and no cattle, what we say in Missouri. If you are actually wanting to make sure that Americans have shots and vaccinations, do your job, not the lip service. If we really want to help American people, we should focus on lifting the burden of government influence and interference on the lives and off of the backs of working-class Americans.

At a time of great division in this country, we ought to be conscious of the fact that how we govern in this body can serve to unite us, or it can divide us further.

The only thing that has been bipartisan this week is bipartisan opposition to the bill. Not one Republican voted for it, but Democrats voted against it.

One piece of this debate that is increasingly obvious and concerning to me is how our Democrat colleagues are pushing legislation that will rescue or reward their political allies in blue State capitals across this country. How else does one explain the billions in bailouts they have proposed for State governments that have locked down their local economies? They have told Main Street to board up and left families struggling even more to make ends meet.

We should be looking to help working-class families by reopening schools, ending small business lock-downs, and allowing Americans to get back to work.

Hardworking American families would also appreciate a White House that focuses more on job creation and economic opportunity instead of continuously issuing executive orders, firing American workers, and increasing the cost of living in this country.

One truly disturbing part of the resolution before us today is that this resolution repeals the supermajority waiver requirement for unfunded mandates, making it easier for the Senate to impose mandates on our States and local communities on a partisan basis, now with only a simple majority waiver required.

This paves the way for Democrats to enact sweeping policies that will make the cost of living more expensive, and it will give Washington bureaucrats power over the American people and harm the working class.

Under this resolution, Democrats with a mere 51 votes could force States to provide healthcare to illegal immigrants under Medicaid. They could also take away States' ability to ensure Federal carbon mandates don't kill jobs and devastate local economies.

Ironically, the same folks who want to bail out State governments today to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars will be able under the new rules to stick States with costly massive unfunded mandates for the long term. It makes zero sense.

House Democrats are driving full speed ahead toward radical policies that will kill jobs and hurt the working class. It is past time to put politics aside and focus on the real needs of all Americans.

Madam Speaker, I stand ready to work with my colleagues on policies that will support the American working class.

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