During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing last week, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) spoke about the Republicans' budget resolution.
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00:00minutes everybody. I now recognize Mr. Garcia for five minutes. Thank you Mr. Chairman. I think it's
00:08pretty clear that Republicans have called us in today to oversee one of the biggest rip-offs
00:12in American history. We already know what this plan actually means. It's trillions in deficit
00:17finance tax cuts for the wealthiest in this country. 880 billion in cuts that will decimate
00:23Medicaid. Medicaid covers 80 million Americans, low-income people, the disabled, long-term care
00:29for the elderly, substance abuse treatment, and 41% of all births in this country. That's what's
00:35being threatened today and is part of this budget proposal. And that's not all of course. There's
00:39an additional 230 billion dollars in cuts that also threaten food assistance. Now this is one of the
00:45biggest wealth transfers from the poor to the rich in American history. And it comes at the same time
00:51that Donald Trump is destroying our economy with a crazy and erratic tariff agenda. It's a complete
00:56rip-off for the American people. Now we should believe in a country where we take care of each
01:00other, where billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share, where everyone deserves food,
01:05health care, and an affordable place to live. Now in our Homeland Security Committee today,
01:10truly disturbing things are happening. Now even though border crossings are at an all-time low,
01:15which I remind the committee actually began under President Biden, we want to give Donald Trump a
01:21giant slush fund for his extreme toxic and lawless deportation agenda. Now Secretary Noem currently
01:26spends much of her time dressing up as an ICE agent and doing propaganda tours of foreign prisons.
01:33Now this bill would give her a huge budget increase with absolutely no accountability. And we know the
01:39administration is already trampling on the rule of law, and we shouldn't be voting to empower them
01:44today. I want to begin by also, under unanimous consent, introduce into the record, a poll from
01:50Fox News showing that Donald Trump actually now has a negative approval rating on immigration.
01:56Mr. Chair? So ordered. And why is the American public churning on the president on immigration?
02:01It's because the president is now destroying our due process system in this country. In the case of
02:07Kilmer Abrego Garcia, there's a 9-0 Supreme Court ruling that is demanding his facilitation back to
02:14the U.S. and the Donald Trump administration is plotting the Supreme Court. Of course they've
02:20admitted they made a mistake, and yet they still refuse to bring him back. In the case of Andrew
02:25Romero, who came to the border seeking asylum because he was fleeing persecution for being gay,
02:30he came to his appointment at the border that we gave him as a government, and then was taken to a
02:35foreign prison with no due process. This is not the country that we should be proud of in this
02:42system of immigration. We now have evidence that Donald Trump is deporting people with no due process.
02:48He's willfully denying and ignoring the Supreme Court. We cannot continue to afford to continue to
02:54spend more and more resources on a toxic, extreme, and unconstitutional agenda. Everyone here supports
03:01border security. If you're convicted of a serious crime, I think we can all agree that you shouldn't
03:05be here. But this does nothing to bring down the cost of living for working-class and middle-class
03:10families. We are empowering an administration that is attacking our Constitution, our safety,
03:15and our middle class, and we should vote no on these budget increases today. Thank you, and I yield back.
03:21Gentleman Yields, I now recognize Mr. Magaziner for five minutes.
03:27Thank you, Chairman. We need more funding for homeland security and border security. I was
03:34very close to you. I'll see you next time.
03:36Thank you, Captain. Take care.
03:37Please,