Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, for not only yielding but bringing this important bill to the floor.

Our appropriators worked tirelessly to negotiate a multi-bill package that is part of this bill to reopen the government. We never should have been here, Mr. Speaker. Over a month ago, we tried, as Republicans, to prevent a government shutdown. We had a vote here on the House floor. Mr. Speaker, 99 percent of Republicans voted to keep the government open, and 99 percent of Democrats voted to shut it down.

Then that bill went over to the Senate. We watched for 42 days, where time and time again Democrats, just to appease their most radical base, continued to vote in unison to shut the government down.

Mr. Speaker, during that shutdown, we saw millions of families experience pain. They experienced pain and suffering that Democrats themselves acknowledged they imposed on the American people. They said over and over again--and we have quote after quote from Democrats during this shutdown--that they needed to oppose the suffering to get leverage. They wanted to use the American people as pawns to get leverage. Mr. Speaker, for what?

They ultimately filed an alternative bill. It was a $1.5 trillion mad spending spree that included things like $200 billion of taxpayer funding for illegals to get taxpayer benefits, while they gutted the $50 billion rural healthcare fund that we put in place in the working families tax cut.

Mr. Speaker, anybody who comes up here and says they care about healthcare is also advocating to gut the $50 billion rural healthcare fund to provide $200 billion in taxpayer-funded benefits for illegals. It is insanity.

If we want to look at where this all began, as some on the other side, Democrats, want to talk about a healthcare crisis, the healthcare law of the land is what many refer to as ObamaCare. Let's remember the original name that Democrats gave that bill when they created it. They called it the Affordable Care Act. Only Democrats voted for it. Republicans knew it was going to be anything but affordable. It was going to interfere with the doctor-patient relationship. Unfortunately, it has done that.

If we want to talk about affordable, maybe the only other bill that is more laughable in its name is the Inflation Reduction Act. That is another product brought to us by Democrat-only votes. The Inflation Reduction Act ushered in the inflation under Joe Biden that we are still trying to shake today.

Mr. Speaker, since the Affordable Care Act started, Americans have seen over 80 percent increases in their healthcare costs because of a bill created by Democrats that they want to now blame on Republicans. I understand why they would want to try to now pawn that off on somebody else.

If we then look over time, during COVID, they created a temporary relief fund, Mr. Speaker, not to individuals but to insurance companies. Democrats called it ``temporary'' in the law. They created a temporary COVID relief tax credit to insurance companies to bail out big insurance companies who were seeing record profits. That is now what they want Republicans to renew.

It is an insurance company bailout that Democrats created to be temporary. They set it up to expire. They are now saying that the world is going to end if that insurance company bailout doesn't get renewed.

At the same time we as Republicans worked to actually lower premiums for families, they fought it every step of the way. That is right. We had a bill we passed through this House just a few months ago in the working families tax credit.

Part of that bill was called the cost share reduction. It was scored by the CBO to lower premiums for families by over 12 percent. What happened? By the way, every Democrat voted against that, too, because they have never cared about lowering premiums.

That bill goes to the Senate. Senate Democrats worked overtime to get that provision removed. If we look at the Senate Committee on the Budget website, they still brag that they removed that provision that would have lowered premiums for families.

Republicans absolutely have worked and will continue, by the way, to work to lower premiums for families. Make no mistake that the high premiums that everybody faces today are a result of the inaptly named Affordable Care Act and the many failures associated with it.

Mr. Speaker, this bill today is about ending the misery Democrats created on families. This is not just about funding the government. It is not just about solving other problems that we should be working to solve. It is about getting the government back open, while not holding the American people hostage.

That is what has disgusted the American people most during this shutdown. It should never have happened. It has caused real suffering for American families. Our men and women in uniform had to wonder whether or not they were going to get paid. Air traffic controllers already had a really stressful job and then had to show up for work without getting paid. They missed multiple paychecks.

We know a lot of those air traffic controllers are going to work jobs as Uber drivers. They aren't able to show up for work because they have bills and rent due. They are trying to put food on their table, and Democrats want to vote ``no'' tonight to keep denying them food.

The 42 million SNAP recipients are people who are low-income and who need those food benefits.

Mr. Speaker, if Democrats vote ``no'' today, then they are voting to deny those 42 million low-income families basic food needs. Mr. Speaker, don't talk about how much you care about low-income people and vote ``no'' tonight to deny them food, basic services, basic things that American families need who shouldn't be part of the leverage Democrats want to show their radical base, that they are fighting Donald Trump because they are upset with the results of the election from November.

It is time to end this madness, Mr. Speaker. Let's get this government back open. Let's go negotiate our differences, which are many, but let's do it while not continuing to hold the American people hostage.

I urge my Democratic colleagues who have voted relentlessly to shut this government down and impose this suffering on the American people to stop. Stop imposing the suffering. Let's open the government, and let's get back to the work of the American people.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source