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00:00Good afternoon, everyone.
00:29To begin with, it is with a heavy heart that we gather here today, having received the
00:37news that our dear colleague and a tremendous public servant, the Honorable Sylvester Turner,
00:46passed away tragically and unexpectedly.
00:51He was a powerful, profound, principled public servant who was beloved in his hometown of
00:58Houston, served his hometown in the state legislature as mayor, and over the last few
01:07months as a member of Congress, and he was a champion for all that we stand here today
01:16to protect.
01:17So I thought it appropriate that we just begin with a brief moment of silence.
01:47Last night, Donald Trump delivered one of the most divisive speeches made by a president
01:58in American history.
02:02Republicans aren't trying to bring the country together.
02:06They are tearing us apart.
02:09Republicans aren't trying to move America forward.
02:13They want to turn back the clock.
02:18Republicans aren't interested in improving the economy or making life better for everyday
02:27Americans.
02:28They want to enact the largest cut to Medicaid in American history and are hurting our veterans.
02:42While white extremists are desperately trying to jam their reckless budget down the throats
02:52of the American people, they want us to step back.
02:57House Democrats will continue to fight back.
02:59We're going to fight back in Congress, in the courts, in the community, in urban America,
03:09in rural America, suburban America, small town America, the heartland of America.
03:16We're going to push back aggressively against Donald Trump, his administration, and the
03:22extreme MAGA Republican agenda until we can end this national nightmare and bring the
03:29American dream to life for every single person in this country.
03:39That's our non-stop and it will continue to be our focus.
03:44We must always stand up for our veterans, those who have worn the uniform to protect
03:53and serve our great country.
03:58They've been there for us, sacrificed for us, shown courage and extraordinary bravery
04:05for us.
04:06We must always stand with them.
04:10Thousands of veterans across the country have been hurt by the extreme actions of Donald
04:15Trump, the Trump administration, Elon Musk, and MAGA Republicans.
04:21That's unacceptable.
04:22It's unconscionable.
04:23It's un-American.
04:24There are several veterans here today to tell their stories to the American people about
04:32what is happening and the fact that veterans all across this great country are being harmed.
04:41Our promise to veterans in this country is that we will always stand with you, we will
04:49love and cherish you, and we will fight to make sure that every single veteran in this
04:54country is treated with the dignity and respect that you deserve.
05:01It's now my honor to yield to our distinguished whip, Catherine Clark.
05:13Thank you, Leader.
05:14We heard a lot of things in the 100-minute presidential address last night, not one thing
05:22about helping veterans.
05:24100 minutes, not one thing about helping our veterans.
05:30Instead, we heard the double down on the same corrupt agenda, help the rich get richer.
05:39And to pay for tax cuts for the richest man on earth, the GOP is throwing our veterans
05:46under the bus, raising their prices, cutting their health care, destroying their livelihoods.
05:56Six weeks into this administration, they have fired 6,000 veterans without cause.
06:04They're getting ready to fire 83,000 VA employees.
06:11They're cutting SNAP benefits that feed more than a million veterans.
06:16The Medicaid coverage is being cut that covers 3 million military families.
06:24And Social Security checks that support nearly 8 million veterans.
06:32They're selling out our veterans to enrich billionaires, and they're insulting them as
06:38they do it.
06:40Before the speech last night, one of Trump's top advisors was asked specifically about
06:46all the veterans they had fired.
06:50She said, quote, they're not fit to have a job.
06:57There is nobody more fit than a patriot who has voluntarily put on a uniform, who has
07:04exposed themselves to injury, to death, to illness, who has chosen to make those sacrifices
07:13to defend us, to defend our country, our democracy.
07:20Democrats are here to say in unison, we will not allow our veterans to be defined as government
07:28waste.
07:29And we are privileged to be joined by three heroes who have served our country in uniform.
07:42Three patriots who are watching the Republican Party and the President of the United States
07:48turn their backs on them.
07:50First, we will hear from Chris Wicker, a proud Air Force veteran and a small business owner
07:58who was senselessly fired from the SBA.
08:03Chris?
08:04Where's Chris?
08:05There he is.
08:06Chris, thank you for joining us.
08:11Thank you, ma'am.
08:12Hello, everyone.
08:13My name is Chris Wicker.
08:15I am an Air Force veteran, a former small business owner.
08:20I am from Minnesota, a constituent of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
08:24In July of 2024, I landed the job of a lifetime for me.
08:28I was the Deputy Director for the Minnesota District Office of the U.S. Small Business
08:33Administration.
08:34Now, I joined the Air Force straight out of high school, where I spent six years on active
08:38duty as an intelligence analyst.
08:41I spent almost 10 years in national security, and in a tent in Kabul, Afghanistan, I used
08:47the SBA's resources to write a business plan for a cleaning company to start a different
08:52life.
08:53The SBA helped me get my cleaning business off the ground.
08:56My dream was to one day help people start and run their own business, and I have been
09:03very passionate about this work.
09:05So, for the better part of eight months, I have supported others at the agency that helped
09:09me when I came home from Afghanistan.
09:12I know what it's like to be a veteran, feeling like there aren't a lot of options in the
09:17world for us.
09:19I became a resource to help those people.
09:23Until last month, when I received an email saying that I was fired because of my performance.
09:30That is a lie.
09:33My termination was not based on performance, and I am now one of tens of thousands of federal
09:38workers wrongly terminated.
09:41I am here to speak up on behalf of all federal workers who are being treated like garbage
09:48and who are feeling scapegoated, rightfully so.
09:52I am here to speak up for the people who lost their jobs, wrapped up in a lie that
09:57their performance was.
09:58Folks that put life into our cities, and they make it worth living in them.
10:03Cities like Minneapolis, every single day.
10:06These people, my people, walk past the American flag and pledge allegiance to it every day
10:12as they serve their communities.
10:14They are good Americans, and I am a veteran.
10:18I know what a loyal patriot looks like, and every single one of those people deserves
10:22the gratitude of a thankful nation and not the demonization and criticism that they have
10:27been getting.
10:29This is unacceptable, and it must end.
10:39I thank the members, seriously.
10:41I thank the members, especially Congresswoman Omar.
10:43Thank you all of the advocates who have gathered here today and to help me push back.
10:48We will not stop elevating the stories of those who have been impacted.
10:53Sorry, I'm small.
10:54Hello.
10:55My name is Louise.
10:56I'm from a small town in Pennsylvania called Tobyhanna.
11:14I'm sure many of you have children.
11:16I myself have four boys.
11:19They are three, 12, 13, and 15.
11:24I served as a United States Navy Seabee for three years.
11:28I'm here today to urge Congress to put families first and prevent dangerous cuts to the programs
11:35that families like mine rely heavily upon.
11:39After I left the Navy, I struggled to find full-time work.
11:42I felt abandoned by my country, the one that I had worked so hard to serve.
11:48In the Navy, they don't teach you how to live life as a civilian.
11:53And I don't know how to keep me and my children afloat without these programs.
11:59During the difficult times that I have lived through, Medicaid, SNAP, and WIC were my lifelines.
12:06I needed these, and I still do.
12:10I don't understand why Republicans are trying to destroy these programs.
12:14These programs allow parents like me to take my kids to the doctor when they're sick and
12:20put food on my table.
12:22These same programs enable millions of veterans who don't qualify for services through the
12:27Veterans Administration to obtain medical care.
12:31My grocery bills keep going up.
12:33Two years ago, when my infant son was born, a carton of eggs was $3.
12:37Now in my town, it's almost $8.
12:41If I lose SNAP, I won't be able to feed my family.
12:44If I lose Medicaid, my children won't be able to see a doctor when they're sick.
12:50Republicans want to take health care and food away from people like me, veterans and
12:53working parents, so they can give handouts to millionaires and billionaires.
12:58It's unacceptable that they'll let the people who serve this country suffer.
13:03Take it from me, right now, it's not just us veterans, but all of us that suffer.
13:09Every day, veterans are suffering at the hands of the people that we fought to protect.
13:13And if the Republicans, those same people that we protected, get their way, it's going
13:17to hurt families like yours and like mine.
13:21It's time for all of America to stand together with us, the proud veterans of the United
13:25States military, and fight for our right to live and thrive in this country that we fought
13:31so hard to protect.
13:40With that in mind, I'd like to introduce my fellow brother in arms, Eric Rodriguez.
13:45A little emotional for me, so, I'm Eric Rodriguez, I'm a disabled Iraq war veteran, a VA worker,
14:11a proud SEIU unit steward representing Illinois.
14:16I proudly served my country, and now I proudly serve my fellow veterans, but right now the
14:21Trump administration is trying to cut the VA, frontline workers, and let billionaires
14:26steal our health care.
14:28Veterans, we are under attack.
14:32Last week, 1,400 workers got fired illegally, 22 of them were my colleagues at the VA, at
14:39Heinz VA Hospital.
14:41Some of them didn't even get a real notice.
14:44All they got was this, an email with X's where the date should be and no name.
14:55That's how little they think of people and our veterans in this country, and that serve
14:59our country.
15:01They're slashing staff, crushing unions, and selling out the VA for what?
15:14So billionaires can make more money while veterans sit on wait lists, or worse, they'll
15:19get no treatment.
15:22Our president was asleep while Musk was at the wheel.
15:25Do you know what happens to a servicemember when they fall asleep when they're on duty?
15:30Veterans don't trust him.
15:31He's not one of us.
15:33We're not about to sit back and take the SEIU.
15:37We're fighting back.
15:38We're organizing and we're taking action.
15:43We're not going to back down.
15:46On the south side of Chicago, we stand on business.
15:50It's time for you to do the same.
15:52We've done our duty.
15:55Now we're asking the administration and Republicans to do theirs.
16:00We serve this country.
16:02We know how to take it.
16:04Take the fight to them, and we know how to win.
16:09At this time, I would like to pass it over to Vice Chair Liu, please.
16:36Good afternoon.
16:37Thank you to Leader Jeffries for his leadership.
16:41I want to recognize some of the members on this stage.
16:43We're joined today by the ranking member of our Veterans Committee, Mark Takano, as well
16:52as Democrats who are veterans, Bobby Scott, Salud Carver Hall, and Mike Thompson.
17:14Last night, Donald Trump lied to you.
17:18He promised a golden age, and the facts show we're entering a Trump slump.
17:23Inflation has increased.
17:25Consumer sentiment is down.
17:27The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has now projected that our economy is going to contract.
17:33It's literally going to get smaller this quarter.
17:37And the chaotic actions of the Trump administration, enabled by House Republicans, are not harming
17:42our country.
17:43They're also harming our veterans.
17:47One in four federal employees are veterans.
17:50So when the Trump administration indiscriminately, and in many cases, brazenly, illegally fires
17:56federal employees, that has a disproportionate effect on our nation's veterans.
18:00No wonder, as Whip Clark mentioned, nowhere did Donald Trump mention veterans' issues
18:06last night.
18:08House Republicans are also harming our nation's veterans.
18:11The radical budget that they just passed, with $880 billion of cuts to Medicaid, harms
18:18our veterans because one in ten of our veterans get coverage through Medicaid.
18:24And I want to thank today our veterans, Chris, Louise, and Eric, for sharing their powerful
18:29stories.
18:30And I'm going to conclude on this story.
18:32I met Eileen, a veteran, yesterday.
18:35She served in the U.S. Air Force.
18:37She then went to work at FEMA in Alabama.
18:40The same state where I started my active duty training in the Air Force.
18:44She was one of the first volunteers to go to Hurricane Helene.
18:49She has two kids, ages four and ten.
18:52And on President's Day, she got an email, similar to what Eric got, that said she was
18:57fired.
18:58No notice, no severance pay.
19:01She couldn't even go back to her office.
19:04A few days later, she had to walk into the middle of a field, in the snow, and her supervisor
19:09to come out and give her office items in a box.
19:13That is not how we should treat our nation's veterans, it's not how we should treat our
19:17federal employees, and it's not how we should treat any American.
19:22The actions of the Trump administration are shameful, immoral, and they are completely
19:28hurtful to veterans.
19:29That's why, under the leadership of Hakeem Jeffries and all the Democratic members here
19:34in this room, we are fighting back and we will prevail.
19:38It's now my honor to introduce our amazing caucus chair, Pete Aguilar.
19:49I want to thank Ted Lieu, Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus, for his service to the
19:56country.
19:57House Democrats are focused on the American people who are being harmed by this Republican
20:02budget, which slashes Medicaid to help pay for tax cuts for billionaires.
20:08That hurts the VA healthcare system.
20:11An Air Force veteran, who continued his life in public service as a Deputy Director of
20:16the SBA, gets caught up in the chaos and the dysfunction of Elon Musk's crusade to line
20:22his pockets with even more taxpayer dollars.
20:25Thank you so much, Chris, for sharing your story.
20:28A Navy veteran and mother of four who relies on SNAP and Medicaid to put food on her table
20:33and to keep her children healthy, who Republican Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional
20:38District betrayed by voting to take away her healthcare.
20:43Thank you, Louise.
20:44And to Eric, an Army veteran and a frontline worker at the VA hospital, we want to tell
20:51you we will not get distracted by the lies that you heard last night.
20:57We are going to keep the focus on where it deserves and to focus on what the President
21:03does, not what he says.
21:07These stories are happening all over the country, and sadly, it's only going to get worse.
21:13It didn't have to be this way, but Trump and House Republicans refuse to prioritize the
21:19needs of everyday Americans.
21:21The American people were told that this version of the President would be different.
21:26We were told that this version of the President would bring down prices on day one.
21:32Instead, prices are going up.
21:34The economy is in a freefall, and Trump's reckless tariffs are going to make it worse.
21:40Their only focus is on passing massive tax giveaways for corporations and billionaires.
21:47We were told that this version of President Trump could be trusted to lead our country
21:52at a perilous time in our history.
21:55We were lied to, and we will hold accountable the people who perpetrated this lie on our
22:01constituents and the American people.
22:04Thank you so much for being here.
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