09.18.24 Weekly Press Conference

Good morning. So, thankful to be joined by Vice Chair Ted Lieu, DCCC Chair Susan DelBene, and Representative Johanna Hayes. Over the weekend, Republican candidate for vice president admitted on national television that he's perfectly comfortable lying to the American public. It was a shocking admission, even from Donald Trump's own vice president, vice presidential nominee. But dishonesty has always been the hallmark of the MAGA playbook. They're not telling the truth about Springfield, Ohio, and Republicans across the country aren't telling the truth about their plan to ban abortion and end fertility treatments like IVF. They're not telling the truth about their proposed budget, which will cost American families an additional $4,000 a year. They're not telling the truth about Social Security and Medicare or proposed cuts of $35 insulin guarantees for seniors. Some Republicans still refuse to even tell the truth about the 2020 election. And they're not telling the truth about government funding legislation before us today, which jeopardizes military readiness and healthcare for veterans. Speaker Johnson must reject the most extreme voices in his party and quickly move toward a Four Corners agreement so we can avoid a costly Republican-led shutdown. The American people want to see an end to the chaos and division. Now, Vice Chair Ted Lieu. Thank you, Chairman Aguilar. House Republicans are following Donald Trump's orders. They're trying to implement Trump's Project 2025 with this continuing resolution bill that they say want to vote on. And how do I know that? I can read. So if you look at Project 2025, it wants to eliminate the Department of Education. This CR that House Republicans have is going to cut $11 billion from the Department of Education and lay off 72,000 teachers. Project 2025 also wants to reverse their Fair Housing Act. This CR that House Republicans have make it so that not only there are deep cuts to the housing department, it also prohibits HUD from using its funds to enforce their housing rule. Project 2025 also wants to make abortions inaccessible for millions of American women. This CR will prohibit money going to family planning services, prohibit funding for women traveling out of states where abortion is banned, and make it more difficult for certain medical students to receive abortion care training during their education. So just look at what House Republicans are trying to do. They're trying to implement Project 2025 into law. This CR is never going to pass the Senate, even if it passes the House. They should get serious and work with Democrats so we can fund government before the funding expires by the end of this month. And I have the great pleasure now of introducing our amazing field general, the great Susan DelBene from the state of Washington. She is the DCCC chair, and she is doing a fantastic job. And we're going to have a different makeup in Congress next term. Good morning, everyone. Excuse me, I want to thank Chairman Aguilar and Vice Chair Liu for inviting me to join them this morning. We just came from our caucus meeting and House Democrats were more excited than ever to win back the House of Representatives. 48 days ahead of us. Now many of you may have heard me say this before. Americans want governance to work. I say that all the time because as I travel across the country, I hear it all the time from folks who are frustrated with the chaos and the dysfunction that they've seen from House Republicans since the beginning of this Congress. I'm bringing it up again today because this week is the latest reminder of how the antics of the Republican majority drive people back home. Absolutely crazy. From day one, their Circus Act has been on full display. And here we are yet again on the brink of a government shutdown because how sure Republicans can't govern and would rather fall in line behind Donald Trump and his call to quote, close it down. But this is what they do. Fall in line behind Donald Trump. You know, just take a look at their record on reproductive freedom. House Republicans and Donald Trump are responsible for the bans, restrictions, and attacks on abortion rights happening across the country. But they are now realizing that they are on the wrong side of this issue. Over 60% of voters support a federal law to restore the reproductive rights that existed under Roe. This is why Republicans have struggled in their message of extremism to the public. First, they tried to hide it. They scrubbed off and deleted any reference to their extreme anti-choice positions from their websites. But when that hasn't worked, they're now trying a new tactic, deception. In just the last few weeks, we've seen House Republicans desperately try to cover up their anti-abortion records with fibs and falsehoods. They falsely claim they support IVF but won't vote to protect it. They're running ads to mislead about their anti-freedom records. Some of them have the audacity to blatantly lie by saying they are functionally pro-choice. So it's important that we remind people that this is the Republican record. It's shameful, and as a woman, it's incredibly insulting. Make no mistake, every single House Republican has voted to restrict reproductive rights. Every single one of them cheered the fall of Roe. Every single one of them elevated Mike Johnson, a speaker who is unquestionably the most extreme anti-abortion speaker in our lifetime and is committed to passing a nationwide abortion ban. Over the next two months, House Democrats are going to hold them accountable. We'll make sure the American people know exactly how the Republicans have voted to restrict reproductive rights. In November, we will defeat this extreme, dysfunctional House Republican majority, and we will get Congress back to work to defend our rights, our freedoms, our democracy, and our future. And now it's my honor to introduce our colleague from the great state of Connecticut, Johanna Hayes. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. For months, House Republicans have been considering unpopular and partisan spending bills instead of working across the aisle to pass a bipartisan budget that works for the American people. Now House Republicans are putting a six-month CR that puts veterans, our national defense, needy families, and communities affected by disasters, like those in districts impacted by, like my district, impacted by catastrophic floods, all at risk. This CR threatens FEMA disaster recovery efforts by not fully funding the Disaster Relief Fund. The legislation only includes $10 billion in funding, but total requirements are over $24 billion to respond to disasters through March of 2025. This budget shortfall will leave FEMA unprepared to fully respond to extreme weather events and disasters in areas that typically do not experience them, like my home state of Connecticut, where homeowners and businesses are still rebuilding from a one-in-a-thousand-year flood that devastated parts of the state. Furthermore, this CR would also deprive low-income families of child care and other services halted by TANF payments to states for the first two quarters of fiscal year 2025. TANF is a bipartisan program that supports over one million low-income families in need, and blocking these funds would lead to catastrophic consequences for children and families. At a time where families are begging for help, it is not appropriate to cut funding for these programs. Additionally, this CR jeopardizes health care for our veterans by failing to provide $12 billion in necessary funding to maintain care for veterans through the VA. This CR also damages our national security and military readiness by preventing the Department of Defense from winding down programs no longer necessary and from strengthening ongoing modernization efforts. Most concerning, this CR also includes the SAVE Act, which would create barriers to ballot for millions of women, seniors, and military members. In fact, military IDs would not be an acceptable form of ID, and military members would be forced to also show proof of citizenship. It is already illegal under current law for noncitizens to register or vote in federal elections. This CR is designed to delay fiscal year 2025 funding to push through harmful Project 2025 priorities that do not support the American people and are not supported by the American people. House Democrats are committed to putting politics over people, putting people over politics, and pass a spending bill that supports veterans, families, and those experiencing national disasters. Thank you, and with that, I yield back to the Chairman for questions. Thank you, Johanna. Questions? Julie? Well, first of all, there's no place for political violence. We're all thankful that the Secret Service was able to address this latest incident, and there's no place for political violence on any side. But let's also be very clear that when the other side of the aisle talks about this issue, they lack a lot of credibility with the American public. When I talked about telling the truth and being honest, they need to be honest about the 2020 election. They need to be honest and ensure and push back against people who stand at podiums with microphones and say that the press is a threat to democracy. They need to push back on that. They need to push back against silly issues. Like Johanna talked about the SAVE Act and the theory that there's individuals who are undocumented who are voting in droves and are going to turn our election is absolutely false. And so it's just pretty hard to take a lecture on this issue from those folks, especially Mike Johnson, who was architect of the legal side of delaying the counting of ballots on January 6th. But House Democrats are completely on the same page, that there is no place for political violence. We will not encourage it. We will not support it. We will push back against it every time, but we will also push back against the lies that are told in an election season. Well, I mean, we'll see if this vote gets called. We've been down this before. You guys asked me questions about this last week, and we said, if this comes to a vote, so I'll preface it in the same way, if this comes to a vote, but members are going to vote in the best interest of their districts. But our message to them is uniform, that the SAVE Act has no business being as part of the CR. This is not going to become law. This is Republican theatrics that are meant to appease the most extreme members of their conference to show them that they're working on something and that they're continuing to support the former president of the United States in his bid to demonize immigrants. So that's what this is about. Needless to say, that's just on the SAVE Act side of it. On the actual government funding piece, this is awful for military readiness. This is terrible for SNAP and food and nutrition programs, like Johanna mentioned. This is terrible for the Disaster Relief Fund. This is terrible for the VA as they administer the PACT Act and provide benefits to veterans. So this is a bad piece of legislation, and we've been very clear about that to anyone who asks. I would just say it also goes against what Republicans themselves negotiated as top lines in the budget. We made good faith efforts very early in the year to have robust discussions about all of these issues. So to have a six-month CR right now when we're two weeks away from government funding expiring that has all of these poison pills just reinforces the idea that they don't win to govern. They are not trying to govern for the American people. And these provisions in this continuing resolution are harmful to the most vulnerable people that we represent. Max? Vice Chair Liu talked about this as well. Everywhere we go, we talk about the chaos and dysfunction, not as a talking point, but as a lived experience for the four of us up here. We've gone through this chaos of 19 speaker votes. We've gone through the flirtations of government funding and the extremism that happens when Republicans are given an opportunity to lead. And we contrast that with what we stand for, who we are, and what we believe. And Project 2025 is an encapsulation of what Republicans believe. It is their guidebook. It is their touchstone on how they would govern if they had all of the levers of government, from rolling back continued restrictions for women to access abortion care, to eliminating the federal workforce, to cutting Social Security and Medicare, rolling back prescription drug benefits to seniors, cutting the Department of Education, eliminating Head Start. These are programs that matter to people in districts. And so when we go around the country, we talk about that. Because when you're talking to community members in Arizona or Nevada or Oregon or Iowa, the public understands Head Start. The public understands the Department of Education. They understand these programs. They've benefited them. Their neighbors benefited from them. And so it puts a finer point on exactly what would happen if Republicans are given the ability to control the levers of government. So I'm not shy about it. And I don't think that the chair is either. But I'll ask Chair DelBene to speak, and then Vice Chair Luke. I'll just add that Americans are well aware of Project 2025, and they don't like it. They know what's in it. They know these attacks on reproductive freedom, cuts to Social Security and Medicare, as the chairman outlined. And they don't support those policies. And it's important to folks that they elect folks who are going to help move our country forward and fight for working families. And that's not part of the Republican agenda. So we're going to continue to highlight it. They're running away from it because they know that people aren't with them. But it is a list of programs they have supported for a long time. So we're going to hold them accountable for that. And it's just another example of where they are on the wrong side of the American people. Project 2025 isn't just a document. It is a collection of ideas that the Republicans have consistently tried to implement. So it's not as if this is something they just made up. They've been working on this for years. One example is taking away reproductive freedom. That actually happened, right? A multi-year effort to get Roe v. Wade overturned. Donald Trump campaigned on overturning Roe versus Wade. He appointed three extreme religious justices to overturn Roe versus Wade. They overturned Roe versus Wade. And then Trump bragged about the overturning of Roe versus Wade. That happened. And that's a central plank of Project 2025. That's why it's so believable when we talk about it, because you see Republicans actively trying to implement 2025 into law and all their insane ideas. Well, we'll see if there are discussions underway. And to my knowledge, those are bipartisan and bicameral discussions on what tools are necessary for the service moving forward. So that is where we are. That said, the Secret Service, like a lot of other federal law enforcement agencies, including the Capitol Police, have not been able to hire the number of people that they are authorized to hire for a variety of reasons. And so this is a combination of both funding as well as questions and discussions as to how we ensure that they can staff up to carry on their mission. It is a very public mission. And when they fail, the public sees that. But there is the bipartisan task force that has been stood up on the House side. We look forward to their observations and their report, both on Butler and potentially on Florida incident as well. And we stand ready to implement bipartisan solutions to this issue. Is it better for House Democrats to speak to the economy more broadly? What are some of the accomplishments that you all achieved in the last time? How specific should members be getting around these issues? In fact, I certainly hear things on the campaign trail, given you all have been doubling in partnerships with Congress and the technical authority. We love it. We love it. We embrace it. This needs to be a conversation about how we lead our country moving forward. And you do that by talking about policy that you can implement to make a difference in people's lives. The policies that you referenced, the first-time homeowner tax credit and the child tax credit expansion, those are policies that House members have led on in the past. And Susan Del Bene has been a leader on the child tax credit as well. And I'm going to ask her to speak. But these are things, of course, we need to talk to the American public about what we have done, what we have accomplished together with the Biden-Harris administration. Record number of job creation, Inflation Reduction Act, bipartisan common sense bills, including the Chips and Science Act, those pieces. But we need to talk aspirationally about what we want to accomplish if we're given the opportunity to lead. And I think that's where these policies matter. They matter to families who are seeing these rising costs and these families who feel that homeownership is just beyond their grasp and that they're not going to be able to get there. These are real things in people's lives. And so I do think we should talk about them. I think that House members have led on these issues. And I think it's made its way into the course of this presidential race, which has been helpful to us as we talk about ideas to help families. Also, as a huge supporter of the expanded child tax credit, it is an issue we've been talking about even since the American Rescue Plan about renewing that policy going forward. We saw the incredible impact, cutting childhood poverty across the country almost in half. Imagine what we can do if we have that policy back and we keep it going, what that means for the long-term future for our kids all across the country, for families, for our communities. Fiscally responsible, when we make investments in kids when they're young, it has an incredible impact on our communities overall. Childhood poverty costs us a trillion dollars. So when we talk about specific policies like that, we can talk about what we're doing to build a strong future. We can talk about fiscal responsibility and how these investments that we make give us an incredible return for our communities and for our country. And that's yet another example of how we approach legislating and what we want to do to make a difference in the country. Next year, as a Ways and Means member, I'll say next year is going to be a big tax year. And we have to look comprehensively at tax policy, but there are definitely key policies that are critically important. Housing is very, very important across the country, an important issue of affordability. But absolutely, the expanded child tax credit is another key policy. And we have data that shows how powerful it can be and how it works. And so we actually want to govern and help support working families, help support and strengthen the middle class. And examples really kind of help describe exactly what we're going to do. But I know Congresswoman Hayes also wanted to talk about what it means in a frontline district like hers. Yes, I just wanted to say that even in a district like mine that is considered a frontline district, the policies that you just mentioned are very popular. Things like home ownership, when we see that one of the number one issues is the rising cost of housing across my district, it is very popular to have a credit. The child tax credit is something that we tried to make permanent. People were very excited when we had the temporary child tax credit. In Connecticut, our state implemented a similar but much smaller credit. But it's a proposal that is very popular, the credits for small businesses. These are things that say to people in my district, we hear you, and we're responding to your needs. A lot of the policy proposals that we have are really high level. But these are hyper local kitchen table issues that help people really support and care for their families. So when I'm asked about it at home, I am very open about yes, I support these policies. And I would do whatever I can to help make sure that we are working to implement policies that mirror these proposals or, you know, put forth these proposals because it would help working families to afford everyday costs that people are talking about every time we're out on the campaign trail. As Chairman Aguilera said, Democrats embrace the opportunity economy that Kamala Harris has put out from the child tax credit to lowering housing costs and taking on corporate price gouges to lower food costs. It's important to contrast that also with Donald Trump. Leading economists have said his tariffs policies would increase inflation and harm our economy. And then look at his recent answer to how he would lower food costs. He said he would increase prices on imported foods. Let's just think about that for a second. There's a bunch of imported foods in our grocery stores, fruits, canned goods, a lot of stuff is imported. And Donald Trump specifically said he's going to raise those costs. That's insane. And you contrast the two policies, it's clear that Kamala Harris has a much better economic policy that's going to help middle class families. Like I said, conversations are underway in a bipartisan bicameral basis. House and Senate members have have thoughts on this could be a combination of things. But there if there are additional tools and resources that are needed. House Democrats are going to support that. We want to ask questions and we want to understand what the service is requesting. And that'll be a request that comes from the Department of Homeland Security. So when we have those details, we're willing to engage and have a discussion about what's best for the service in the short term to ensure that their protectees are safe. And then beyond that, after January, to ensure that they that they meet their mission. Thank you so much.