JEFFRIES: I thank the distinguished, gentle lady from the great state of Connecticut, our top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, for yielding and for her incredibly strong and steadfast leadership during this process. House Democrats, House Republicans, Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans reached a bipartisan agreement to fund the government, prevent a shutdown and meet the needs of the American people. We reached a bipartisan agreement to provide disaster assistance to people who had their lives turned upside down by extreme weather events hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and wildfires all across America. We reached a bipartisan agreement to be there for farmers and families, children, seniors, working-class Americans all across the country, the men and women who serve this country in uniform and our veterans.

House Republicans have abandoned that bipartisan agreement that we entered into in good faith. A bill that House Republicans negotiated, gave us your word that we were going to move forward together on behalf of the American people. It was a Republican-drafted bill that was posted by House Republicans. And then one or two puppet masters weigh in and the extreme MAGA Republicans decide to do the bidding of the wealthy, the well-off, the well-connected millionaires and billionaires, not working-class people all across America. The bill that is before us today is just part of an effort to shut down the government unless we, as representatives of the American people, bend to the will of just a handful of millionaires and billionaires because the provisions in this bill, particularly as it relates to suspending the debt ceiling for two years, are designed to bring about a massive tax cut unpaid for wealthy donors and for wealthy corporations for millionaires and billionaires who, clearly, some in this Congress are working for. And this bill is validation for it.

Now, what's been interesting to me is that for decades, the Republican Party has lectured America about fiscal responsibility, about the debt and the deficit. It's always been phony. This bill proves it. One thing we do know is that every time a Republican president comes into office, the one thing we can count on Republicans to do is to pass a massive tax cut for wealthy Americans and, in the process, stick working-class Americans with the bill by raising the deficit and the debt. That's what happened in the 1980s when Ronald Reagan was president. The biggest thing that he did was pass a massive tax cut for the wealthy and the well-off paid for by working families and middle class folks all across the country. Didn't do anything for middle class Americans. Didn't do anything to stimulate the economy. This whole notion of trickle-down economics. I've come to the conclusion that trickle down economics simply means that middle class families, that working-class Americans may get a trickle, but they're guaranteed to stay down. That's what your economics are all about. Massive tax cuts for the wealthy and the well-off under President Reagan continued into President Bush. Bill Clinton comes to office, inherits a significant deficit, and under his stewardship, President Clinton turns a deficit into a surplus and passes that surplus to President George W Bush. The so-called party of fiscal responsibility.

And once again, we see the same exact playbook. Republicans inherit a surplus and they immediately blow it to pass massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off and the well-connected, not provide relief to working-class Americans. A tax cut in 2001, unpaid for, and then a tax cut in 2003, unpaid for. And they continue to run up the debt and the deficit prosecuting two failed wars. The so-called party of fiscal responsibility. Want to lecture America, but your record speaks for itself.

President Obama comes in after mismanagement related to the prior administration, including helping to trigger the Great Recession, inherits the deficit from a Republican president of $1.5 trillion, as well as the Great Recession. And working under the leadership of President Obama, Democrats in the House and the Senate, the situation turned around and over an eight year period of time reduced the deficit by $1 trillion. From $1.5 trillion to $500 billion. Progress under Democratic leadership as it relates to getting America's fiscal house in order. And then Donald Trump comes to office and again follows the same exact playbook. After failing to take health care away from millions of Americans, the Republicans turned their attention to the GOP tax scam, where 83% of the benefits went to the wealthiest 1%. Why? To subsidize the lifestyles of the rich and shameless. And in the process of doing that, borrow $2.3 trillion added to our debt. Explode the deficit. So-called party of fiscal responsibility. In fact, this debt that we're dealing with, that Democrats are taking seriously, that Republicans have no interest in being responsible around, that's what this two-year suspension of the debt ceiling is all about. In our nation's 248 year history, 25% of our nation's debt was accumulated during the four years of the former president. 25%. How dare you lecture America about fiscal responsibility ever.

And then President Biden comes to office. Gets big things done for the American people on infrastructure, on the CHIPS and Science Act, standing up a clean energy economy, rescuing America from a once-in-a-century pandemic. Gets all of these big things done, partnering with House Democrats and Senate Democrats and in the process, in his first two years, reduces the deficit by $1.7 trillion. And so we see a very clear pattern. The facts speak for themselves. Democrats are the party of getting things done and fiscal responsibility. Republicans are the party of massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off and the well-connected, which bring us to this very moment. Because this bill is designed to set up the GOP tax scam 2.0. To stick the American people with a bill so you can continue to cut taxes for wealthy donors and well-connected corporations and jam working-class Americans. That's what this bill today fundamentally is all about. That's why Republicans are suspending the debt ceiling for two years, the so-called party of fiscal responsibility. And in addition to these massive tax cuts, we know how you want to pay for it. Many Republicans have said this in the public domain, that we want to end Social Security as we know it, end Medicare as we know it, end Medicaid as we know it, end nutritional assistance as we know it, not support our veterans. These are all the reasons why Democrats are opposed to this legislation. Because you're trying to jam working-class Americans again, as you have repeatedly done over and over and over again. Those are the facts.

The other problem with this bill is that we negotiated in a bipartisan, bicameral way—real progress for working-class Americans, for middle-class Americans, for everyday Americans who aspire to be part of the middle class that has been cut out of this legislation. Why would you do that? Why would you eliminate funding for community health centers? That impacts the heartland of America, urban America, rural America, suburban America, small-town America, Appalachia. Why would you cut our funding for community health centers? We're fighting for those everyday Americans. That's why we're opposed to this legislation. Why would you cut funding for nutritional assistance for children in America? For seniors in America? For veterans in America? Why would you do that? This bill cuts funding for nutritional assistance that had previously been agreed upon, and that's why we're opposed to this legislation. This legislation actually cuts a program that was designed to help children and their parents detect cancer. Cruelty is the point. Why would you eliminate that program? We're going to fight for the children of America. 

And so, the reasons are too numerous to articulate, though at my magic minute, I could do that. But we've laid out the challenges with this bill, the phoniness in claiming that extreme MAGA Republicans are about working-class Americans or are the party of fiscal responsibility. Nothing could be further from the truth. When you run up the debt and the deficit, middle-class families pay, working-class families pay, and we are going to defend them. House Democrats are going to continue to fight for working families, middle-class families, all those who aspire to be part of the middle class, for the children of America, for the seniors of America, for the unions in America, for the veterans of America, for the least, the lost and the left behind, for the poor, the sick and the afflicted. We are going to continue to fight for everyday Americans. That is why we are voting no on this bill. And to stop this reckless, regressive and reactionary Republican shutdown. Vote no.