Boyle Leads Debate on House Floor, Slams Republican Budget that Does Nothing to Lower Costs

Let me set the stage here for what has brought us to this point. Last year, over the course of the first six months of the year, mind you, there was reconciliation 1.0. That was what the other side and the president used to call the big beautiful bill. Remember that? You don't hear that phrase too much anymore. You know why? One of the most unpopular pieces of legislation to pass Congress in modern American history. More than two to one disapproval over approval. Why is that? Because the American people know what was in the bill. The American people know that it throws more than 15 million Americans off their health care, more than 17 million according to one non-partisan service. In addition to that, it raises health care costs for tens of millions more. But that's not all. It also cuts nutrition assistance, the biggest cuts to the SNAP program in American history. And on and on, I could take up the next hour listing the cuts. And why are those cuts in there? In order to fund the biggest tax breaks for billionaires in American history. But that's not all. It is also the biggest increase to our national debt in American history. And that's not all. It also includes 140 billion dollars record funding, mind you, for ICE and CBP. So that is what has set the stage for reconciliation 2.0. The bill that is now in front of us. This bill is quite different in that it is narrowly pertaining to just two areas, ICE and CBP. That's interesting to me because one thing the vast majority of the American people agree on, whether they're Democrat, Republican or Independent, is that costs keep going up. They haven't come down in the last year and a half. They've only gotten worse. They've only gotten higher. And that is no accident. It is not because of something like a terrorist attack or the business cycle. No. It is directly because of this president's reckless policies. Trade policies that have spiked inflation and a war in Iran that has taken the average price for a gallon of gas from under three dollars a gallon just two months ago to now over $4.20 a gallon and rising. You don't see anything in this reconciliation 2.0 to address anything that I just discussed. Any of the rising costs, any of the rising health care costs, any of the rising costs of the supermarket. Nothing, nada, zilch, zero. The only thing that is in this is another 70 billion dollars for ICE and CBP on top of the record funding that was in the bill last year. The American people simply want costs to come down, period. Unfortunately, those priorities are not being met by this Republican majority. Now, I want to be clear. I believe, and sometimes this is inconvenient on both sides of the aisle to say it, I strongly believe in a secure border, period. What I don't believe in is any agency of the government shooting and killing American citizens in the streets of our country. I think the vast majority of the American people agree with me that we need to have a secure border but that we cannot have any agency of our government carrying out killings on our streets. We know that there are reforms that need to happen with ICE and CBP in order to rein in the abuses that we have seen. Unfortunately, none of that is in the bill before us. Instead, it's just throwing them, showering them with additional billions of dollars that they simply don't need. So, Mr. Speaker, I really hope soon we can get back to a budget bill that addresses the needs and concerns of the American people. Unfortunately, that is not the one that is presently before us. The American people deserve far better.