Ranking Member McGovern on House GOP Budget: “It’s a betrayal of the middle class.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee James P. McGovern (D-MA) delivered opening remarks at a committee meeting on the Republican budget—a plan that betrays the middle class by gutting essential funding for families and bankrolling massive giveaways for greedy billionaires and corporations.

His remarks as delivered can be found below and video clip can be found HERE:

“Thank you, Madam Chair. Today, we are here to discuss the Republican budget—a budget that is a betrayal of the middle class. 

There is nothing America first about this budget. This is about gutting programs that help everyday people so that Republicans can give more handouts to billionaires and special interests.

I keep hearing Republicans run these ads about how their budget is going to put money in regular people’s pockets. Talk about misleading! You conveniently forgot to mention the billions and billions this budget gives away to the ultra-rich. And you forgot to mention that you’re stealing from regular people to do it.

People will see their costs go up! In other words, everyday people—teachers, nurses, firefighters, police officers, farmers, plumbers, laborers—are going to get screwed!

And I’ve seen this before. I saw it in 2017, the last time Trump was in the White House. Republicans love rigging the economy for the ultra-wealthy. And today, here they are, keeping the gravy train rolling for billionaires, making it possible for them to pay a lower effective tax rate than the working people of this country.

And by the way, you know who else loves this budget? The price-gouging corporations that have been squeezing families at the grocery store, at the gas pump, and on their rent checks. A lot of them pay NOTHING in taxes. In fact, nearly 50 companies in the S&P 500 reported paying no income tax expense in 2023. And you wouldn’t dare do anything about that?

And then Republicans have the nerve to lecture us about fiscal responsibility?! They claim they care about the deficit, but they can’t help themselves, because this budget blows a massive hole in the deficit! You have $2.7 trillion—that’s trillion with a T—in tax giveaways for the ultra-rich here.

And in the same breath, they’re slashing programs that help everyday people. Oh, they’re coming after Medicaid. And then they’re coming after Social Security. And then they’re coming after Medicare. They’re coming after SNAP, a program that ensures that kids and seniors don’t go hungry. I mean, how cruel is that—to take away food from hungry people? They don’t care. They’re coming after every single thing that matters to the people who work hard and keep this country going.

In short, this bill is not about helping regular people—it is about helping the billionaires and price gougers who funded Republican campaigns.

Wages for working people have been stagnant for decades. Everything from gas to groceries keeps getting more expensive. Eggs are like $10 per dozen in some places We haven’t seen a damn thing to bring down costs. It’s all handouts to their donors while everyday people fight just to stay above water.

This budget doesn’t invest in working families—it robs them. It doesn’t strengthen our economy—it weakens it by making it harder for regular people to get ahead. Plain and simple, Republicans are betraying the middle class.

Democrats have a very different vision—one that puts regular people in front of billionaires. We care about working people who can’t afford rent. We care about the people who get their hands dirty on the job and are pissed off that billionaires are able to pay lower effective taxes than they do.

We care about the nurses, and the teachers, and the police officers, and the firefighters, and the waiters and waitresses and cashiers who deserve better than this Republican budget that screws them over. It’s insulting.

Democrats want tax relief for workers, not the ultra-rich. Democrats believe in protecting Social Security and Medicare, not gutting them to pay for corporate handouts. Democrats support Medicaid and SNAP because we know these programs are essential for keeping millions of Americans who live on the brink from falling off the cliff.

And we all know trickle-down economics doesn’t work. After the last round of Trump tax cuts that gave companies billions in tax breaks, they didn’t spend that money on their workers or building new infrastructure—they spent it on stock buybacks to enrich their wealthy shareholders!

For example, T-Mobile almost paid nothing in federal income taxes in 2023 but spent $13 billion on stock buybacks.

Which is why we should grow our economy from the bottom up, not the top down.

This Republican budget is about choices. They are choosing billionaires over teachers and nurses for God’s sake. They are choosing corporate greed over struggling families. They are choosing to make life harder for the people who do the real hard work in this country. 

And they are blowing up the national debt while they are at it. Only these guys—Trump, Elon, and the MAGA clown show in Congress—could find a way to cut hundreds of billions of dollars in spending on critical and essential programs—and yet still blow up the National Debt.

The American people deserve better. They deserve a government that works for them—not just for the wealthiest elite and those at the top. Have any of you been in your districts lately? Have you talked to people… I mean real people, as opposed to just donors? This is not what people want. I promise you, it is not what people want.

And Democrats are going to expose this corruption and grift—and we are going to fight like hell to stop it. With that, I yield back.”

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The Committee on Rules was formally constituted as a select committee on April 2, 1789 and is one of the oldest committees in the House. An appointment to the Rules Committee gives Members significant ability to influence virtually all major legislation as it heads to the House Floor for a vote.