Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) explained why they are voting against the GOP budget reconciliation bill.
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00:00I yield three minutes to my friend from Georgia, Mr. Andrew Klein. Three minutes.
00:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:08House Republicans have a once-in-a-decade opportunity, a once-in-a-decade opportunity,
00:15to deliver real conservative change in Washington.
00:18This Congress has laid out bold priorities for President Trump's one big, beautiful bill,
00:23including tax relief for working families and small businesses,
00:26major investments in border security, strengthening our military,
00:30unleashing American energy, reforming federal health programs to protect the most vulnerable,
00:36and restoring Second Amendment rights.
00:38We're also committed to ensuring the final package is fiscally responsible,
00:42right-sizing government, and putting our fiscal future back on track.
00:47Unfortunately, the current version falls short of these goals
00:51and fails to deliver the transformative change that Americans were promised,
00:55substantiative improvements are needed,
00:58and I look forward to working with this committee and our House Republican Conference
01:03to make sure we deliver.
01:04As an ardent Second Amendment defender, I have always promised to defend my constitutions,
01:08my constituent Second Amendment rights.
01:11Today, excise taxes, specifically transfer and making taxes,
01:15are imposed on every firearm regulated under the National Firearms Act of 1934.
01:20As Chief Justice John Marshall warned in 1819,
01:24the power to tax involves the power to destroy, and he was absolutely right.
01:30These taxes have enabled unconstitutional regulation and registration under the National Firearms Act,
01:36exemplified by the Biden administration's dangerous pistol brace rule,
01:40which turned millions of law-abiding gun owners, many of them veterans, into felons overnight.
01:46The House now has a historic opportunity to repeal the burdensome taxation, registration,
01:52and regulation of short-barreled firearms, both rifles and shotguns,
01:56and suppressors under the National Firearms Act.
01:59The American people are watching.
02:00It is time to deliver.
02:03Additionally, House Republicans must put Medicaid on a sustainable path
02:06by refocusing the program on the truly vulnerable.
02:10Single mothers, pregnant women, disabled Americans, children, and the elderly.
02:13Yet taxpayers in non-expansion states, like my constituents in Northeast Georgia,
02:21are unfairly footing the bill for excessive Medicaid spending in blue states.
02:26Currently, the federal government matches $1.33 for every $1 that states spend
02:32for these core vulnerable populations.
02:34But under Obamacare's Medicaid expansion,
02:36the federal government pays $9 for every $1 spent on largely able-bodied working-aged adults
02:44that simply will not work.
02:46That's unacceptable.
02:47It's time Republicans prioritize Medicaid for the vulnerable over the able-bodied.
02:53Unfortunately, the current reconciliation package fails to reverse this misguided funding scheme
02:58that undermines care for the most vulnerable,
03:01the very people Medicaid was originally intended to help.
03:04For these reasons, I am unable to support this package in its current form,
03:08but I look forward to strengthening this bill to ensure that it does pass
03:12so that we fulfill all of our America First promises to the American people.
03:17Thank you, and I yield back.
03:18Mr. Josh Burkine from Oklahoma, you have three minutes.
03:21Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
03:22Look, apart from being someone that represents Christ
03:26and the way that I operate in this building
03:28and being a good husband and a great father to my children,
03:32something stands out to me more so than anything else
03:35in the way that I conduct my life.
03:37It is to be a person of truth.
03:39And I think some of us are having real consternations this morning
03:43because of feeling like that there is truth on both sides,
03:48that we had a blueprint.
03:50But there's also truth in the fact that $50 billion was added
03:53that is not a part of the blueprint.
03:56And so was the instructions fully met,
03:59it's truth that that element is lacking,
04:02and that has to be reconciled,
04:04not in truth with what the blueprint laid out.
04:06The second part, to be a person of truth, has to be the scores.
04:09And when you look at, because that's the decision before us today,
04:15as people of truth, do these scores pan out?
04:19And what I saw happen in Oklahoma,
04:22in my time in the state legislative body,
04:24trying to repeal wind tax credits,
04:2860 lobbyists from other countries, Italy, Spain involved,
04:32diverged on the Capitol,
04:34and it took from the 90s,
04:37as Governor Keating discussed in the 2018 era,
04:41when we were trying to repeal these,
04:41it was never intended to last as long as it did.
04:44And it was always the promise to end many years from now,
04:47which never materialized.
04:49And so when we've got a measure that says
04:52start date for ending is four years from now,
04:56and we also have elements of this as it currently stands,
04:59that says you can enter a project in 2031
05:03as a wind production entity
05:05and still be receiving taxpayer subsidies by 2040,
05:09to be a person of truth,
05:10I know what's going to happen.
05:12I know there are going to be lobbyists
05:13that are going to descend on this building.
05:16We'll get the savings up front.
05:18And years from now, when President Trump,
05:19who rightfully so is a champion for any,
05:21as he calls it, the Green New Scam,
05:23is no longer in office,
05:24this is designed,
05:25I'm sorry, but I think it's purposely designed,
05:28and I'm not challenging anybody's character.
05:32I am grateful to a speaker.
05:34I am grateful to a chairman of this committee.
05:36I am grateful to a leader
05:37that's engaging with us right now
05:39to try to figure this stuff out,
05:40to get to the truth.
05:41But I just want for my committee members
05:43to know my consternation,
05:45because as Patrick Henry once said,
05:48I have but one lamp by which my feet are God.
05:50It's the lamp of experience.
05:51I know no other way to foretell the future
05:53than by the past.
05:55And until we get these timelines corrected,
05:58where it's a true repeal of wind and solar
05:59that is undermining our electric grid,
06:0260% of all new generation in the last two years,
06:05according to the Energy Information Administration,
06:07is wind and solar.
06:09And the super majority of components on solar,
06:11it's 61% of it's solar,
06:13and the super majority of those components
06:14are coming from China,
06:16undermining natural gas jobs all over this country.
06:20We have to fix this.
06:21I appreciate a chairman, speaker, and a leader right now
06:24as we're even talking,
06:25trying to figure this out
06:26so I can be a person of truth.
06:29I yield.
06:31I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma
06:34who is indeed a person of truth.
06:38I now yield three minutes
06:40to the pride of the Palmetto State,
06:42Mr. Ralph Norman.
06:44Mr. Chairman,
06:44I want to thank you for the job you've done
06:46on the budget committee.
06:47You've held fast.
06:48You've kept this committee going.
06:49And I just want to thank you
06:50and give you the credit for it.
06:52Great leadership.
06:53To my friends on the left,
06:56let me classify it this way.
06:58You're being untruthful.
07:00You can say however you want to say,
07:02but to say we're cutting Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security
07:04is simply untruthful.
07:06You cannot cut Social Security anyway.
07:08And, you know,
07:11what this boils down to
07:12is a complete...
07:14We're operating on two different universes.
07:16You think the tax money is yours,
07:19government is your God,
07:21and that's what your bottom line that you have.
07:25You supported an administration
07:27and Joe Biden
07:27that trainwrecked this country
07:29by letting 15 to 20 million illegals
07:31in this country
07:32where we have paid a price
07:33and are continuing to pay a price.
07:35Now, where are we on this bill?
07:37The tax cuts are great.
07:39The tax money is the taxpayers,
07:41not the government bureaucracy.
07:43And what we're dealing with now
07:45is so many good things that are happening.
07:47You can use class warfare,
07:49rich, poor, black, white.
07:51You're off base.
07:5277 million people told you you were off base
07:55and you're still off base.
07:58But here's the questions I would ask.
08:01And, Mr. Chairman, I know you know this.
08:03Is it right for healthy, able-bodied Americans
08:07that could work, that don't work?
08:11It's over 25 million healthy, able-bodied Americans
08:14that don't work.
08:14Is it right for them to have a paycheck?
08:16I don't think so.
08:18Is it right if you're an illegal alien,
08:20which the right side of this aisle,
08:23my Democrat friends led in this country,
08:26if you're an illegal,
08:27is it right to have illegals,
08:29cash and checks with money we don't have?
08:32And to phase this in for four years
08:35and give a, we're telling a healthy body,
08:38a healthy American that you got four years
08:40to get a job?
08:41No, the payment stops now.
08:43If you're an illegal, the payment stops now.
08:47On the IRA, a lot of these credits
08:51have been in existence for 30 and 40 years.
08:53And you're talking about giveaways.
08:55We want to help those who really need help.
08:57And that's what we are, that's the heart of this.
09:01Sadly, I'm a hard no until we get this ironed out.
09:05And I think we can.
09:07We've made progress, but it just takes time.
09:10And it's time that if we're going to continue
09:13to have just what I mentioned,
09:16able-bodied Americans getting checks,
09:18illegals getting checks,
09:20subsidies that go to corporations
09:22that shouldn't get them, I'm out.
09:24So thank you for, Mr. Chairman, again,
09:27for what you've done.
09:28And thank you for this budget committee.
09:30I yield.
09:32Now yield three minutes to my friend
09:34and fellow Texan who's done a fantastic job,
09:38played a key role in fashioning
09:39the initial framework we call the budget resolution.
09:45And I want to thank him for his service
09:47and his friendship.
09:48Mr. Chip Roy, three minutes.
09:50I appreciate my friend from Texas, the chairman.
09:52And, you know, there are my Democratic colleagues
09:54go again, telling things that are not true.
09:57The vast majority of Americans
09:59will get tax benefits under this bill.
10:01It's just simply false to say that that's not true.
10:03Hardworking Americans who will benefit
10:05from the standard deduction increase.
10:06Hardworking Americans will benefit
10:07from child tax credits and lower tax rates.
10:10Stop saying things that aren't true.
10:12Those things are true.
10:14The fact is we have money in here for border
10:15to undo the damage of Joe Biden.
10:17We have more money in here for the defense
10:19to undo the damage of Joe Biden.
10:20But we also address Medicaid
10:22and Medicaid spending goes up.
10:24Stop lying.
10:25Medicaid spending goes up.
10:27My colleagues on the other side of the aisle
10:28are profoundly unserious
10:30when it comes to being real
10:31about what's happening with the numbers.
10:33I applaud Chairman Arrington.
10:34I applaud my colleagues on this side of the aisle
10:36for taking a step forward
10:37in dealing with the spending problem in this town.
10:40But I have to now admonish my colleagues
10:42on this side of the aisle.
10:43This bill falls profoundly short.
10:45It does not do what we say it does
10:47with respect to deficits.
10:48The fact of the matter is
10:50on the spending,
10:51what we're dealing with here
10:52on tax cuts and spending,
10:54a massive front-loaded deficit increase.
10:57That's the truth.
10:59That's the truth.
11:00Deficits will go up
11:02in the first half of the 10-year budget window
11:04and we all know it's true.
11:05And we shouldn't do that.
11:07We shouldn't say that we're doing something
11:09we're not doing.
11:10The fact of the matter is
11:12this bill has back-loaded savings
11:15and it has front-loaded spending.
11:19Nowhere near the Senate budget top line,
11:21by the way.
11:22The Senate budget top line
11:23of $6.5 trillion,
11:25which, by the way,
11:26is what we were pre-COVID,
11:28inflation-adjusted,
11:29on interest,
11:30on Medicaid,
11:31I'm sorry,
11:32on Medicare and Social Security.
11:33And if we would reform Medicaid,
11:35we could actually get to the core of the problem.
11:37But we refused to do it.
11:40And I'm not going to sit here
11:41and say that everything is hunky-dory
11:43when this is the budget committee.
11:46This is the budget committee.
11:47We are supposed to do something
11:48to actually result in balanced budgets.
11:51But we're not doing it.
11:52Look at what happens under deficits.
11:54By the way,
11:55this chart includes growth.
11:57This chart demonstrates economic growth.
12:00And right here,
12:01what do you see?
12:02Baseline
12:03and the orange
12:04columns
12:05are the deficits
12:06under the House budget
12:08assuming growth.
12:10Only in Washington
12:11are we expected
12:12to bet on the come
12:13that in five years,
12:15then everything will work.
12:17Then we will solve the problem.
12:19We have got to change
12:21the direction of this town.
12:22And to my colleagues
12:23on the other side of the aisle,
12:24yes, that means touching Medicaid.
12:26It went from $400 billion in 2019
12:28to $600 billion this year.
12:30It'll be over a trillion in the 2030s.
12:32We are making promises
12:33that we cannot keep.
12:35We do need to reform it.
12:36We need to stop giving
12:37seven times as much money
12:38to the able-bodied
12:39over the vulnerable.
12:41Why are we sticking it
12:42to the vulnerable population,
12:43the disabled and the sick,
12:44to give money
12:45to single able-bodied male adults?
12:47We shouldn't do that.
12:49We should reform it.
12:50But guess what?
12:51That message needs to be delivered
12:52to my colleagues
12:53on this side of the aisle too.
12:55We are writing checks
12:56we cannot cash.
12:57And our children
12:58are going to pay the price.
12:59So I am a no on this bill
13:01unless serious reforms are made
13:03today,
13:04tomorrow,
13:05Sunday.
13:05We're having conversations
13:07as we speak,
13:07but something needs to change
13:09or you're not going
13:10to get my support.
13:11I yield back.
13:18We've done a pretty good job
13:19of conducting ourselves
13:20professionally.
13:21So if you've got
13:23sidebar comments,
13:24either side,
13:26use your three minutes
13:27to sound off, okay?
13:29Mr. Chair,
13:30we're not allowed
13:31to use the word lying
13:32about one another either.
13:34So that decorum
13:36should go both ways.
13:37Well, I'd encourage people
13:38not to say that.
13:41Everybody's got to be responsible
13:42for the things
13:43that they say
13:43in this committee.
13:45But I also associate myself
13:48with Mr. Chip Roy.
13:50A whole lot of work
13:51is still left undone,
13:54and I look forward
13:55to joining him
13:56and making sure
13:57that we strengthen
13:58many of these spending
14:00reform measures
14:01before the ink dries.
14:02But with that...
14:04and that이라는
14:15I'll call you
14:17through any kind
14:19of wood,
14:20but I'm going
14:22to drop
14:23the way
14:25that time
14:27is
14:27on other
14:28people
14:29and
14:30I know
14:31you