Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendment to H.R. Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026

Floor Speech

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Ms. PRESSLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of every elder who can't afford their prescriptions and every parent who went to work hungry so their child could eat. In the United States of America, there is no lack of resource, only a deficit of empathy, political will, and courage.

At its best, government is a backstop, a compassionate steward of the public good. At its best, government catches people when they stumble at a moment of hardship. At its best, government does right by the people, all the people.

Struggle does not discriminate, Mr. Speaker. Hardship is not a character flaw and has zero to do with work ethic. Every single person is one diagnosis and one layoff away from hardship. Life can change in an instant.

What we are bearing witness to is not only a lack of political courage, but it is a fundamental betrayal of the people, incompetence and indifference to the suffering of our neighbors, the shame and the sham of it all.

Any Member of Congress who would vote to deny a child a meal or medication, it is child abuse and neglect. I ought to file a 51A on Republicans for that. Every person in this Chamber and every person in our country has lost a loved one to cancer, and yet Republicans would vote to deny people lifesaving cancer treatment and research.

Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House, and with a majority they have chosen to enact harm to make people hungry, poorer, sicker, and less safe.

The shame and the sham of it all. You the people deserve better. We the people deserve better, and I won't stop fighting until you get it.

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