DeLauro Remarks on GOP Reconciliation Bill

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) made the following remarks on the House floor this morning on the Republican Budget Reconciliation. The remarks are as prepared for delivery.

Mister Speaker: I rise in strong opposition to this bill, which chooses to slash programs that help struggling families get back on their feet, without closing a single tax loophole or limiting a single special interest subsidy.

Our budget should reflect our values, and, as many in the faith community have argued, they should advance the moral responsibilities of the nation to provide for the common good. I note that the Catholic Bishops just sent a letter concluding that, and I quote, "the proposed cuts to programs in the budget reconciliation fail this basic moral test." I am glad the Bishops are speaking out, and they should.

A full forty percent of the total cuts here come from cutting assistance targeted to low- and moderate-income families, including Food Stamps, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and social services for vulnerable children and elderly and disabled people.

Instead of eliminating Big Agriculture subsidies, this budget would cause more than 200,000 low-income children to lose free school meals, and would cut Food Stamps by $36 billion, meaning 44 million Americans would see their benefits cut, and two million Americans would lose them entirely.

This at a time when 1 in 7 seniors faces the threat of hunger. And 1 in 5 children right here in America - land of the plenty - faces a similar risk. We know the impact of hunger and malnutrition - lower performances at school, poor growth, an immune system less able to fend off illness.

Instead of ending subsidies to Big Oil companies, this budget eliminates the Social Services Block Grant, which provides child care assistance to low-income working mothers; addresses child abuse and provides care for the elderly and disabled. About 23 million people, half of them children, would lose these services.

Instead of ending tax breaks that allow corporations to ship jobs overseas, this budget cuts Medicaid, slashes the Children's Health Insurance program, and forces 350,000 Americans to forgo health care coverage provided by health care reform.

Instead of asking millionaires to pay the same tax rates as middle class families, this budget makes children who are U.S. citizens but have immigrant parents ineligible for the Child Tax Credit, harming 2 million families – and 4.5 million children who are U.S. citizens.

These cuts will have a catastrophic effect on the most vulnerable in our nation. And for what? All to protect special interest subsidies and tax breaks for the richest members of our society.

This is wrong. Budgets are about choices and about values, and this bill exposes exactly what this Majority is all about. We need to pass legislation that strengthens and rebuilds the middle class, creates jobs, invests in rebuilding our infrastructure, supports manufacturers, and restores fairness to our tax code.

This Reverse Robin Hood agenda of the House Majority fails in every regard, and I urge my colleagues to oppose it.