Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Steve Scalise (1st District of Louisiana)
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) spoke on the House floor before the passage of House Republicans’ Continuing Resolution to keep the government open and allow President Trump to continue to carry out his agenda. Leader Scalise slammed Democrats for putting their hatred of President Trump above all else and voting to shut the government down.
Click here or the image above to view Leader Scalise’s full remarks.
Leader Scalise’s remarks:“Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank my friend from Oklahoma, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Mr. Cole, for his leadership in helping negotiate a really important bill to keep government funded. As has been duly noted along the way, over the past year, roughly six months, this House, the last majority in the last Congress, passed over 70% of the government funding bills, Mr. Speaker. We passed them to the Senate. Back then, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats were in charge, and they chose not to pass a single House appropriations bill – not one. The House, under Republican majority, not always with help from the other side, but we still got it done on our own passed over 70% of the government funding bills and then eventually got to a point where we had to let the Senate try to get something done, which, unfortunately, they didn’t. And then we got to the verge of a shutdown, and we said we’re not going to let that happen. And we had a short-term funding bill, and here we are again. We’re on the eve of another potential shutdown, and this Republican majority said we’re not going to let that happen.“In fact, this Republican President, Donald Trump, said we’re not going to let that happen either; it would be irresponsible to have a government shutdown. And maybe it’s because Donald Trump said he’s for it that then the Democrat leadership decided they were going to be against it. And when did they decide they were going to be against this bill? Before the bill was even written, before it was filed, they came out against it and started saying things that were in the bill when it wasn’t even written, Mr. Speaker. You heard them talking about cuts to Medicare, cuts to veterans. The bill wasn’t even written, and they were already making up stories to try to figure out how to vote no and shut the government down.“That’s, sadly, where this Democrat Party has gotten; the Democrat Party of today is a leaderless, rudderless ship. They don’t have an agenda. You saw it at the State of the Union, Mr. Speaker. When you saw President Trump not only laying out his agenda that 77 million people, a majority of Americans, went to the polls to elect the mandate that President Trump got not just with a majority of Americans and a majority of electoral college, but all seven, seven out of seven swing states, all voted for President Trump because they wanted that agenda implemented. And what irritates the Democrats the most? The fact that President Trump is following through on the promises that he made, actually doing the things he said he would do. “He’s securing the border. That was the number one issue all across this country, no matter which state you went to, people wanted a secure border, and he’s following through on it. And yet the Democrat Party is criticizing him for doing that part of his job. Rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in government, something that should be bipartisan. In fact, it used to be bipartisan, to root out waste, fraud, and abuse. But now, because Donald Trump is doing it, the Democrat Party of today up here in Washington is so consumed with hatred that they oppose even rooting out waste, fraud and abuse that has been not only highlighted up here, but people around the country are talking about getting rid of that waste once they’ve seen it. “A lot of this was a veil that was pulled down where people couldn’t even find out what was going on because the payment systems were being hidden by the Biden Administration. We couldn’t even find out about a lot of that spending that we were anecdotally hearing about. But finally, you saw it on full display. And it was so embarrassing that some of those employees have left. Fortunately, a lot of that taxpayer money that was being wasted is now being saved, and the money is being recouped so that we can shore up programs that were vital for people.“The President talked about Social Security, a program that we helped protect. When you’ve got somebody that’s listed as 300 years old in the Social Security system, that shows you the kind of fraud and abuse that’s going on, and the fact that President Trump is willing to confront that and take it on so that people who actually paid into the program their whole lives can get the benefits they deserve. That’s what people elected President Trump and this majority on the Republican side to do. “But you would think Democrats would want to join in and help accomplish that, and yet, here they are on this floor, talking about things that aren’t even in the bill, trying to scare people, talking about cuts to veterans in the bill. And maybe because they just didn’t read the bill, it’s only 99 pages long. I would urge them to go read it. They may actually vote for this bill in the next hour because they’ll realize, in fact, the cuts that they’re talking about are not true. They’re not in the bill. There’s an increase for veterans in this bill. You know what else is in this bill, Mr. Speaker – and I want to applaud again the chairman of the Appropriations Committee and his members for negotiating something that’s been needed for a long time, and that is the largest pay raise for our junior enlisted military personnel in over 40 years. Now, if somebody doesn’t think our men and women in uniform deserve that pay raise. Maybe they’ll vote no. I’m proud to say I’m going to be voting yes to support our men and women in uniform who have been waiting for that raise and deserve it. How can you justify a no vote on that, Mr. Speaker. That’s actually in the bill.“As they talk all day about what’s not in the bill because they were against it before it was even written, if they actually read this bill again, only 99 pages. It’s a pretty quick read. You would find out that pay raise for our troops is in the bill. Stronger funding for our veterans is in the bill. But why are they voting no, you would ask? Just because the name of the president is Donald Trump. I think the people of this country are fed up with the kind of hatred that consumes people here in Washington. Again, when you watch the State of the Union address, and the President is not even talking about his agenda, he’s introducing and paying tribute to a 13 year old boy who just beat cancer, and they couldn’t even stand up and applaud that on their side because of the person who said it. If the hatred is so consuming that you can’t even support what’s great about America, maybe you need to reevaluate what’s important in doing these jobs.“We are elected to represent the people. And if the president, no matter who he or she is, has a great idea, you support it. There were a lot of things about Barack Obama’s policies I disagreed with Mr. Speaker. Yet, when he said something that was good for America at the State of the Union, I stood up. We actually worked with the President, the chairman was part of that, Chairman Cole, in passing the 21st Century Cures Act, last bill that Barack Obama signed to help put more funding into NIH so we could cure major diseases. We protect those gains in this bill. But if they’re advocating to vote no, they’re advocating for a government shutdown. It’s a binary choice. It’s not like there’s a plan B behind door number two, Mr. Speaker. “So if the plan is to vote no, what you’re really saying is you want to shut down the government. And I know a lot of Democrats – we all get to bring a guest to the State of the Union, and they get to sit up in the balcony. You’ve got the First Lady and the President’s guests up there, and the 13-year-old boy who beat cancer, the widow of a slain police officer who was in the balcony that they would not even applaud and pay tribute to. But they were there too, but everybody else got to bring a guest. Most Democrats bragged that they were bringing federal workers as their guests. You saw a lot of them holding rallies out in front of federal offices with federal employees, some of whom hadn’t shown up for work in three years since COVID, but they found their way to the office not to work but to protest. Democrats are about to vote to furlough all of those federal workers. Why? Not because of what’s in the bill. They’ve been telling you stories that aren’t even true about what’s in the bill. They don’t like it because of the name of the President of the United States. Aren’t we bigger than that? Aren’t we a better country than that, Mr. Speaker? “This is our responsibility to get this job done and then turn the page and go to work. This is the business, frankly, of the Biden Administration that we’re cleaning up. And we all ought to join together and finish that, and then come together and start a real appropriations process where we move not just 70% of the bills in the House and zero in the Senate. And Senator Thune, to his credit, is the new majority leader has vowed to actually work on a true appropriations process. So we’re not working at the midnight hour on CRs, but where we can actually have a full functioning appropriations process, something we haven’t seen in this town in a long time. “We have to first take care of yesterday’s business before we can start on tomorrow’s appropriations process. And so it’s critical that we get this job done. Not to vote to lay off and furlough all the federal workers, the TSA agents, you won’t even be able to go to the airport or your favorite federal park if they got their way. Let’s actually get our work done so we can start a 12-bill appropriations process that moves through the Senate too, where you can actually have a negotiation between two sides of the aisle. Again, something we haven’t seen in a long time, but is long past due.“It’s a new day in America, and I applaud President Trump. We had Vice President JD Vance this morning come and talk about the importance of passing this bill, too, because they want to fix the problems of this nation. They want to fulfill the promises that were made during the campaign and follow through on the mandate that was given to President Trump, Vice President Vance, and this Republican majority in the House and Senate by 77 million people to turn this country around. Let’s get back to being the greatest country in the history of the world. We can do it. We can come together and solve big problems. But we solve big problems by first taking care of the basics of government, and that’s to keep the government open. Let’s pass the CR, let’s see a big vote to do it, too. I welcome both sides of the aisle. My friends, on the other side, they can criticize a bill they’ve never read, but once they look at this bill, I think you might even see some of them vote yes as well. Let’s get our work done, and let’s move on to the next challenges that the American people expect us to deliver on for them.”