Boyle Continues to Lead Fight Against Trump’s Big, Ugly Bill in Rules Committee

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congressman Brendan F. Boyle (PA-02), Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, delivered remarks at a Rules Committee meeting on Trump’s budget reconciliation bill. Boyle slammed Trump and Republicans in Congress for pushing the largest loss of health care and nutrition assistance in American history in order to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations.

Remarks as delivered and video are below:

Ranking Member Boyle's opening remarks as delivered:

It is an honor to get to be able to testify before this committee. It is an honor in this moment and a privilege to be here, because the next 24 hours might be the most important of our entire careers.

The healthcare of 17 million people who have it today and may lose it by the end of the week, that's all on the line. The food assistance that another 4 million currently get and may have taken away from them, that's on the line.

So, I can tell you this, there is no place I would rather be than right here, right now, in this moment when each and every one of us can make the critical difference.

When this bill passed the first time, it was only by one vote in the House. Just an hour ago in the Senate, it was passed by one vote in the Senate. I think this will come down to one vote yet again, whether or not this becomes law, and if it does, it will be the greatest loss of health care in American history.

Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has confirmed 17 million Americans and let me explain how they arrive at that number. Roughly half of it is due to the largest Medicaid cuts in American history, but another half of it is due to changes and allowing certain tax credits and provisions to expire in the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.

I give the other side credit. They have been working like hell for 15 years to do away with Obamacare. This is the closest that they've ever come.

Millions and millions today, currently on Obamacare will lose it if this becomes law. And that's not all.

As we confirmed again from CBO a few weeks ago, due to the massive increase in deficit spending in this bill, there have to be 4 percent Medicare cuts. That's over $500 billion worth of cuts to Medicare.

So, Medicaid cuts, Affordable Care Act – ACA cuts, Medicare cuts. The largest loss of health care in American history.

I referenced nutrition assistance moments ago. Also, the largest cuts to SNAP in American history. Cuts to higher education programs. Cuts to Head Start. It goes on and on. And yet, as large as that is, and as bad as that is, that still does not fully pay for the over $5 trillion in tax cuts that mostly go to the hyper-wealthy.

How is the rest of that financed? Through deficit and debt.  

The same crowd that would bemoan the last four years there was a Democrat in a White House about the deficit and debt, is adding more to our national debt in this bill than any other piece of legislation to pass since I've been here.

We can do far better than this. The American people are smart when they've been asked about the provisions of this bill, I have never seen poll numbers, truly, I have never seen poll numbers this terrible by a roughly two to one margin, the American people oppose this bill.

They oppose millions of Americans losing their health care. They oppose millions of Americans losing their nutrition assistance. They oppose the idea we're racking up even more deficit and debt, which we both acknowledge as a serious problem in our country and bound to get worse.

They oppose making a bad problem even worse. And why? For what higher noble purpose? To give tax cuts that mostly benefit the top 1 percent of Americans.

This is going to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest votes in each and every one of our careers.

I am proud to be here doing everything I possibly can to say, hell no. Let's kill this bill. I yield back.

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