MAKING OUR VOICES HEARD

On 2025-03-11, Representative Robin L. Kelly (D-IL-2) delivered a floor speech titled "MAKING OUR VOICES HEARD" in the House. The speech addressed immigration and also covered healthcare, trade policy.

MAKING OUR VOICES HEARD

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 45 (Tuesday, March 11, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 11, 2025)] [House] [Pages H1076-H1077] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] MAKING OUR VOICES HEARD (Ms. Kelly of Illinois was recognized to address the House for 5 minutes.) Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise today in defiance of the House Republicans' partisan funding bill. Democrats pulled up a seat for Republican leadership at the negotiating table to discuss a bipartisan solution, but Republicans walked away. What did Republicans propose instead? A blank check to Donald Trump and Elon Musk to take money away from you and spend as they will. For years, I have heard my Republican colleagues talk about the power of the purse and how that power belongs to Congress and Congress alone. [[Page H1077]] Republicans loved to talk about Article I of the Constitution and insisted on clear checks and balances. What do I hear now? Silence. Now that Republicans are in control of Congress, they decide to bend the knee to Donald Trump. Republicans are giving Donald Trump and Elon Musk the power to decide who gets money and who doesn't. Based on these last 8 weeks, we know who Trump prioritizes: his billionaire friends and big corporations. He does not care for veterans, workers with disabilities, children, senior citizens, farmers, or families just trying to make ends meet. Republicans will try to call this a clean continuing resolution. Believe me, that is a bunch of fill-in-the-blanks because this is far from clean. The Republican funding bill has dirt all over it. With this bill, the Trump administration will decide construction funding by the Army Corps of Engineers. Trump will cut funds for lead pipe replacements for schools, better water mains to prevent flooding, and better streets for our communities. Elon Musk and DOGE have proven how little they care for our veterans. They made sweeping staffing cuts to veterans' centers across the country, including in Danville, Illinois. My office has gotten calls from workers and some vets who were fired for no justifiable reason, impacting their own families and the veterans they care for. The Republican funding bill goes even further, cutting $23 billion in veterans' benefits. It gives Trump permission to eliminate programs for veterans, including homelessness prevention programs, which could lead to more than 32,000 veterans losing their homes. These are people who defended our country. Trump would also have the power to reallocate funding dedicated to maternal and child health programs, including Healthy Start, rural maternal health initiatives, and maternity care training. For over a decade, I have rolled up my sleeves to save mothers who are dying from preventative pregnancy-related causes. In the middle of a maternal mortality crisis, Trump would sign away all the programs that help mothers and babies. Trump likes to talk a big game about border control and our country's fentanyl crisis. He plays as the world's biggest bully and hits our closest allies with tariffs. Meanwhile, Republicans give Trump the power to steer funding dedicated to stopping the flow of fentanyl and instead spend that money on mass deportation initiatives. Last September, Kankakee County in my district received funding to help law enforcement crack down on illicit drug trafficking and address the overdose epidemic. That funding would stop under the Republican bill. You heard at the joint address to Congress last week that RFK, Jr., is free to run with his conspiracy theories and anti-vaccination lies. This bill would give him broad discretion to spend money as he wishes at the CDC, ignoring critical lifesaving programs like ending the HIV epidemic initiative, Alzheimer's disease programs, and cancer prevention. If you are not part of the 1 percent, House Republicans and Donald Trump simply do not care about you. It does not matter if you are Democrat, Republican, or Independent. This partisan funding bill proves it. Republicans are giving Donald Trump the green light to do as he wishes, and we all know that he does not have the American people in mind. I, alongside House Democrats, have also been at the negotiation table, but we will never negotiate away veterans' benefits, healthcare, or people's Social Security. I refuse to betray my constituents. Please stand up, speak out, and make your voices heard. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ciscomani). Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities towards the President. ____________________