Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I am opposed to this bill. President Trump and congressional Republicans have created a healthcare crisis and waged a war on the American healthcare system.

On the 4th of July, President Trump celebrated our Nation's birthday by signing Republicans' big, ugly bill into law, cutting more than a trillion dollars from our healthcare system. You can't cut a trillion dollars without creating devastating consequences for our constituents. Their new law will cruelly take healthcare coverage away from 15 million Americans.

We are already seeing the chaotic impacts of their actions. Just 2 months after enactment of the big, ugly bill, we are hearing from hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes across the country that are being forced to close their doors and cut services.

St. Mary's Sacred Heart Hospital in Lavonia, Georgia, recently announced it will shut down its maternity unit next month, and they pointed to ``recent congressional cuts to Medicaid'' as the reason for the closure.

In rural Virginia, August Medical Group is closing an urgent care and two primary care clinics, citing their ``ongoing response'' to Republicans' healthcare cuts. This is only going to get worse.

Congressional Republicans are also taking away tax credits that help millions of Americans afford their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Thanks to enhanced tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act, a record 24 million Americans have coverage through the ACA marketplaces, but Republicans refuse to extend these tax credits for middle-class Americans in their big, ugly bill.

If we don't act now, millions of Americans are going to be hit with huge premiums for the upcoming year. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that these premium increases will lead to 4.2 million Americans losing their health insurance.

Trump and congressional Republicans had no problem giving their billionaire friends tax breaks in their big, ugly bill, but they refuse to extend tax credits that make healthcare more affordable for millions of middle-class families.

This is an outrage. We can't allow this to happen. Democrats believe we must address this healthcare crisis before millions of people lose their health coverage, see their costs spike, and their hospitals close.

Mr. Speaker, I call on my Republican colleagues to join us in ending the chaos. This has to be addressed in this spending bill. It doesn't. The Republican spending bill does not address the healthcare crisis, and for that reason I am opposed.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source