Ranking Member DeLauro Floor Remarks on Republicans’ Rescissions Package

WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) delivered the following remarks on the House Floor in opposition to Republicans' rescissions package:

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself five minutes.

I am opposed to this bill to aid and abet billionaires in stealing from the American people, and which does nothing to help the American people with the cost of living.

Since taking office, President Trump and Elon Musk unlawfully have stolen funds appropriated by Congress, passed by Republicans and Democrats in the House and in the Senate and signed into law by the President – upending the separation of powers and our Constitutional order. For what ends? 

To hand billionaires and the biggest corporations – who already pay little or no taxes – another massive tax break. 

To make our government so broken, so dysfunctional, so starved for resources, so full of incompetent political lackeys and bereft of experts and professionals, that its departments and agencies cannot feasibly achieve the goals and the missions to which they are lawfully directed. That is where we are going.

And ultimately, to embrace privatization; to give the biggest companies unchecked power; to rig the economy against the middle class, workers and vulnerable families; and ensure the American people have no faith in the ability of government to do good in their lives. 

My colleagues, there is no inherent authority for the President to impound or steal funds and never has been.

The late Justices Scalia and Rehnquist said so. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh have said so. By the way, they are no liberal torch bearers.

The Department of Justice and the Government Accountability office have said so.

Over 200 years of American history say so.

Our founding fathers designed our government so. 

Alexander Hamilton said, and I quote, “But where the purse is lodged in one branch, and the sword in another, there can be no danger.” The power of the purse resides in the United States Congress.

This rescissions package dated May 28, submitted June 3 – 134 days after the President began unlawfully freezing funding – is an admission by President Trump and Russ Vought that they are breaking the law by impounding $425 billion in appropriated funds across government. But they do not care about consequences for Americans.

This is a bill to codify the right of billionaires to steal from rural and vulnerable American communities, children, and the global poor, for the sake of handing even more money to billionaires. Congress needs to fight for the middle class, for the working class and the vulnerable, not protect the interests of billionaires and big corporations. Members considering voting for this own the reckless cut by Elon Musk.

This is a bill to shut down rural television and radio stations—cutting off coverage of local news, eliminating emergency information like severe weather alerts, and jeopardizing access to PBS KIDS children’s programming, like Sesame Street.

This is a bill to rip life-saving support away from hungry, displaced, and sick people in developing countries and conflict zones across the globe, and to end programs that treat deadly diseases and prevent pandemics. 

This is a bill to abandon the people of Ukraine while they resist Putin’s tyranny.

This is a bill to cut $400 million from PEPFAR – a paragon of American leadership that has saved 26 million lives – mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. Instead of facing a death sentence, people supported by PEPFAR are raising families, building their communities, and helping their communities grow and develop.

This is a bill that puts America last. When we retreat from the world, diplomatically, and through our assistance to vulnerable people, America will be alone – without allies, in a less stable world, without the support of the international community – and do you know who will come out ahead? China. Russia. Iran. When people in need see bags of food and flour coming through that say “USA,” that shows the power of the United States. That will be traded for food aid from China.

We are here today considering cuts after months of unlawful impoundment – stealing – that will conceal a Republican reconciliation bill to make the billionaires in America even more rich, increase the debt by $3 trillion, and rip health insurance away from at least 16 million Americans. 

This bill rescinds $9.4 billion, which Congress just appropriated not even three months ago, and now the President is asking Congress to rubberstamp its proposal to steal from the American people without concern for the consequences. This bill does nothing to help the American people with the cost of living. The president said he was going to bring it down on the first day. He has done nothing but made it worse.

I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose this bill, which forfeits our global leadership, undermines national security, and steals from the American people to hand more wealth to billionaires.

Thank you, and I reserve.

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