Ranking Member DeLauro Remarks: Fiscal Year 2027 Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee Markup

WASHINGTON – Today, Republicans on the House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee pushed through, on a party-line vote, a fiscal year 2027 spending bill that cuts IRS enforcement, weakens anti-competitive guardrails, and defunds our election infrastructure. House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) delivered the following remarks during subcommittee markup:

Thank you Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Hoyer. And to my counterpart on the full Committee, Chairman Cole.

The second Trump term has been a tale of two constituencies. One is the vast, overwhelming majority of Americans who are being crushed under the weight of the rising cost of living. Families who are struggling to make ends meet, juggling the high cost of housing, groceries, gas, childcare and health insurance. They are stretched thin and in dire need of relief.

The other is a small, insulated group of exceptionally wealthy individuals. These are the folks who sat smiling behind the president as he was inaugurated. The tech CEOs, the hedge fund managers, the leaders of global corporations who are swallowing up more and more of the market every day. These folks are not struggling. In fact, they are doing better than they have ever done before.

The bill we are considering today tilts the scales even further in favor of the wealthy, while putting even more pressure on everyday working families.

This bill guts funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. That means large corporations will have wider leeway to push dangerous products on American consumers, putting children and families at risk. 

That is great news if you are a CEO who wants to pad your profits by cutting back on compliance. It is terrible news if you are a working parent trying to make sure your kids are safe and healthy while you try to stay on top of the increasing demands on your daily life.

This bill cuts funding for the Small Business Administration and Entrepreneurial Development Programs, paring back support for hard-working Americans trying to get their businesses off the ground.

That is a big help if you are a big company trying to corner the market, and do not want any competition to cut in on your profits. It is a stick in the eye if you have a fresh idea to meet a need in your community, and want to avoid being crushed by the corporate giant down the block.

Even after passing trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the very wealthy and large corporations – that’s $4.5 trillion, I repeat $4.5 trillion – paid for by stripping away healthcare access from working families, this bill cuts funding for IRS enforcement. Meaning that these large corporations and wealthy individuals will get away with paying even less, while working families continue to pay far more in taxes as a percentage of their wealth, than do the richest Americans.

We are seeing a striking pattern of market consolidation across a variety of sectors. Mega-mergers in tech, medicine, and energy have weakened the competition that brings prices down and allowed corporate giants to emerge on a scale we have not seen since the Gilded Age.

Yet this bill would defund the Federal Trade Commission, clearing the way for even larger acquisitions, less competition, and higher prices for American consumers. 

This bill is a boon for the very rich and large corporations. It does nothing to alleviate the strain on working families who are struggling just to get by as the cost of living crisis continues unabated. In fact, it makes this problem even worse.

I would hazard a guess that cutting funding for the agencies that stop big corporations from squeezing working families for all they are worth would probably not be very popular with American voters. It is not the kind of thing you want to campaign on if you are a Republican.

So it is interesting to see that this bill also takes aim at our election infrastructure, defunding the Election Assistance Commission, weakening political fundraising guardrails, allowing misinformation and disinformation to spread unchecked. As a reminder, the midterm elections will take place in fiscal year 2027, and if I am being frank the odds do not look very good for the President and his allies.

We should be taking steps to shore up our election infrastructure from any and all interference, and make sure that our states and our localities have the resources they need to conduct elections that are free and fair; that the American people can have faith in.

I encourage my colleagues to oppose the legislation before us today, and to craft a bill that offers relief for working families and cracks down on big corporations, not the other way around.

Thank you and I yield back.