Issues of the Day
Floor Speech
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Mrs. CHERFILUS-McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my deep concern with Speaker McCarthy's reckless plan to address the debt ceiling, which will impose a hardship on working Americans. Instead of solving problems, House Republicans are holding our Nation hostage and demanding that their ransom be met.
Let us not beat around the bush: Caps equal cuts, and Speaker McCarthy's brinkmanship is dangerous. If extreme Republicans have their way, communities across the country will suffer.
The 320-page proposal from the other side of the aisle pushes forward drastic cuts to government programs, programs that families in my district desperately need.
The Republican Party seems to be more focused on padding the pockets of large corporations and billionaires instead of lending a hand to working Americans. The GOP framework is nothing short of a catastrophe.
It includes sweeping cuts to SNAP and food assistance programs that low-income families depend on. It destroys President Biden's student loan debt agenda under the guise of fiscal responsibility. It imposes cruel Medicaid work requirements, ripping healthcare coverage directly from people's hands. It would rescind $80 billion allocated to the IRS through President Biden's historic Inflation Reduction Act. It would repeal clean energy tax credits, which have proven crucial in addressing the climate crisis.
What Republicans are proposing is just not in the best interests of our working people. The American people need a government that works for them, not against them. There will certainly be an opportunity to debate the GOP's rightwing policy proposals down the road, but doing so at the expense of the American people through gamesmanship is reckless and irresponsible.
We need to all work together to make life easier, not harder. Members of Congress have a responsibility to serve the American people. I urge Speaker McCarthy and the Republicans to stop playing political games with our economy and those we are elected to serve.
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Mrs. CHERFILUS-McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining?
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Mrs. CHERFILUS-McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today again for the second time to express my concerns with Speaker McCarthy's proposal which cancelled President Biden's student loan debt forgiveness program and wreaks havoc on our educational system.
President Biden is committed to providing economic relief for families and ensuring that all students can access quality education that sets them up on the best pathway to success.
Altogether, more than 40 million borrowers would qualify for the Biden administration's debt relief program. It is also targeted at those who need the most help with nearly 90 percent of the benefits of the relief going to out-of-school borrowers who earn less than $75,000 per year.
Speaker McCarthy has other priorities. Both he and other extreme Republicans are willing to send our economy into a recession, using American students as a bargaining chip.
If extreme MAGA Republicans had their way, they would not only eliminate Pell Grants for more than 6,000 students in Florida but would also reduce the maximum reward by nearly $1,000 for the remaining 500,000 students who receive Pell Grants.
This would be especially harmful to communities of color. Black and Brown college graduates owe an average of $25,000 more in student debt than White college graduates.
Black women carry the highest student loan debt burden of any racial or ethnic group. This is unacceptable.
Republicans aren't stopping at college either. Their proposal would mean 10,000 children in Florida would lose access to childcare and to slots in the Head Start programs.
Nationwide, 100,000 children would lose access to childcare, making it difficult for parents to join the workforce.
My Republican colleagues care more about special interest groups and massive corporations than our children.
We need to be investing in our kids all across America and in their lives and give them the tools they need for success.
Speaker McCarthy's proposal does the exact opposite. I call on the Republicans to quit playing games with our children's future.
It is time for our parties to come together and make decisions that are best for our community and for all Americans.
The party politics, the partisan politics, must end today. I ask Leader McCarthy to not go forward with this proposal and to have compassion for American people, for our students, for our children, and for Americans across this country.
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Mrs. CHERFILUS-McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today for the third time in opposition to Speaker McCarthy's debt ceiling brinksmanship, which would deliver a crushing setback to the numerous successes of President Biden and House Democrats.
Just look at how far we have come. Annual inflation has declined in the last 9 months. Gas prices are much lower than the record highs we saw in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year. The price of many foods like chicken and fruits and vegetables have declined in March.
Labor force participation is at record-high levels. Unemployment has reached a 50-year low of 3.5 percent. Within the Black community, unemployment has never been this low.
Real income has risen both for low-income Americans and across the economy as a whole. All the while, our deficit has dropped more than $1.7 trillion in 2 years. We are not out of the woods yet. There is always more we can do and could be done to reduce the financial burdens faced by American families and making things even just a little bit easier.
Let's give credit where credit is due. Since taking office, President Biden has passed legislation that has created a strong foundation for the economy to grow and he has invested in the middle class. The administration has worked tirelessly to reduce the cost of living and bringing down the cost of prices.
President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act has also been transformative, slashing kitchen table costs for working families, forcing pharmaceutical companies to negotiate lower drug prices, capping insulin at $35 per month for Medicare patients, and cutting healthcare insurance premiums for millions of Americans.
President Biden's budget proposal stands in stark contrast to what Speaker McCarthy has floated. It is bold, compassionate, and puts working families over politics. Not only would President Biden's proposal reduce the deficit by $3 trillion over the next 10 years, but it does so while investing in our Nation. It lowers costs for working families by making childcare, healthcare, and housing more affordable. These are all things that are crucial to our economy and to the American people at this present time.
Now is the time for my Republican colleagues to put aside partisan politics and work with us to pass a budget that reinforces America's promise to our constituents. House Republicans should not stand in the way of this progress.
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