July 17, 2024

Chairman Aguilar: House Democrats are focused on lowering costs and fulfilling the promise of the American Dream

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Today, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar and Vice Chair Ted Lieu held a press conference with DPCC Chair Debbie Dingell and DPCC Co-Chair Lori Trahan on the failure of House Republicans to prioritize the most pressing needs of the American people.

CHAIRMAN AGUILAR: Good morning. Good morning. So pleased to be joined by Vice Chair Ted Lieu and DPCC Chair Debbie Dingell and DPCC Co-Chair Lori Trahan.

Congress has been in session, as you know, for the last four weeks with very little to show for it because the Republican Majority refuses to prioritize the needs of the American people. As we prepare to head home to our districts for Memorial Day, House Democrats are focused, not on the divisive messaging bills that Speaker Johnson is carrying forward, but on lowering costs and fulfilling the promise of the American Dream. That means making housing more affordable so that economic mobility that comes with homeownership is within reach for the next generation. That means defending democracy and our freedom from MAGA extremists, who have made it so that young women growing up in America today have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers. That means ensuring that our veterans back home have access to health care benefits that they've earned. Thanks to House Democrats and President Biden, more than 800,000 veterans have received health care because of the PACT Act. We're building a strong economic foundation that will grow the middle class and make life easier for working families.

Under President Biden, we've seen incredible, dramatic growth. Over 17 million small business applications and more than 15 million jobs created. House Republicans have shown us their vision for the economy: tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and wealthy corporations, repealing the $35 monthly cap on insulin and slashing Social Security and Medicare, leaving middle class families behind.

Vice Chair Ted Lieu.

VICE CHAIR LIEU: Thank you, Chairman Aguilar. I'm honored to be joined today by DPCC Chairwoman Debbie Dingell and DPCC Co-Chair Lori Trahan.

We know that prices are high. Grocery prices are high. Land prices are high. Some folks may not know if their paychecks are going to make ends meet next month. And that's why, when Democrats are in control, we passed a series of laws to reduce prices. We passed the Infrastructure Law to help mitigate supply chain bottlenecks to make the transportation of goods easier and more efficient to help lower prices. We passed the CHIPS and Science Act to bring back high-tech manufacturing of chips, and since chips are in lots of things, this would also help lower prices. We passed a law to require Medicare to negotiate with drug companies to lower prices. We passed the Inflation Reduction Act which caps insulin to lower prices. Joe Biden has proposed to reduce junk fees to lower prices. Joe Biden is also working on a proposal to make mortgages more affordable to lower prices.

What are Republicans focused on? Well, Louisiana Republicans and their Assembly just passed a bill to make it much harder for medication abortion. And nationally, Republicans are so extreme they want to put in a national abortion ban. So, Democrats are putting People Over Politics and working on lowering prices and creating jobs and Republicans are focused on taking away reproductive freedom. That is a contrast that we're seeing now and that we're going to see all the way until November.

And I want to comment on what Chairman Aguilar said about the PACT Act as a veteran myself. So pleased that we are getting a million claims now, through the PACT Act, to get veterans the benefits that they deserve. In contrast, the Republican Study Committee only mentions veterans three times in their 180 page document. One time to say that they don't think there should be abortions that the Veterans Administration should be doing, one time in a footnote and then the third time saying veterans should work more to access benefits. So again, you see a clear contrast among the issue of veterans.

And now, it's my great honor to introduce the great DPCC Chairwoman, Debbie Dingell from Michigan.

DPCC CHAIR DINGELL: Thank you, Ted, and I want to thank the Chair and the Vice Chair for inviting DPCC to be part of today.

Let's just be clear-for the past four weeks, we've seen nothing but the Republicans putting forth divisive distractions and legislation that's doing nothing to make anybody's life better, and they just keep pitting us all against each other at a time we need to be uniting for a lot of issues that impact our economic and national security.

Meanwhile, President Biden and Democrats are actually getting things done to make a difference in people's lives. Both of the previous speakers, Pete and Ted, talked about the PACT Act. This week, we are seeing two very real, meaningful announcements of action on Democratic policies. First, is that we passed a number this week of a million veterans who had benefited from the PACT Act. But you know what? Those aren't numbers. One of the veterans that was responsible for pushing this, who, quite frankly, I don't know how long it took to get this through-John Dingell had some of the very first hearings when it came to [Congress]-and he was in tears again with me this week because I saw him. He's on oxygen. He's very active in the VSO groups. But he said, "I can die now. My family will be taken care of." I had a Mayor of Wyandotte-that had Agent Orange-that just kept begging me to get something done. He died before this was done. These aren't numbers. These are people who have been suffering since the Vietnam War, of many of these things. Joe Biden got this done.

And second, just this morning, the Biden-Harris Administration announced that even more student debt will be canceled, bringing the total debt forgiven under the leadership to $167 billion and helping nearly five million families breathe easier. This is making a difference in real people's lives-not trying to divide us, not using messaging bills that aren't gonna go anywhere that just exasperate hate.

So, as we go home for the Memorial Day working period, I know that my colleagues have dozens of events planned. We're going to be working very hard with our veterans to thank, to remember those that gave their life to fight for our freedoms, because we never do take our freedoms for granted.

Thank you. And with that, I'm going to introduce my Co-Chair of the DPCC from Massachusetts, Lori Trahan.

DPCC CO-CHAIR TRAHAN: Thank you, Chair Dingell. And thank you, Chair Aguilar and Vice Chair Lieu, for hosting us.

I think my colleagues have said it already but House Republicans have proven time and again that the only thing that can unite their fractured Republican Conference is bringing messaging bills that have no chance of becoming law to the floor.

Earlier this month, Speaker Johnson announced Appliance Week, where instead of passing legislation to protect women's reproductive rights, House Republicans voted to defend stoves and refrigerators that no one tried to take away. They followed that up by unveiling a list of bills to align with Police Week, where rather than pass legislation to increase funding for the COPS Program, the most important federal program that local departments rely on, House Republicans passed toothless resolutions designed to score cheap political points.

And this week, it's more of the same. House Republicans unveiling a farm bill that cuts $30 billion from food assistance programs, including the largest cuts to SNAP in three decades, that the most vulnerable families in our nation need to put food on their table. This is a dangerous proposal, and the fact is, it has no chance of becoming law. It's just another exercise in futility.

House Democrats are ready to work with our colleagues across the aisle to find compromise on legislation that will improve the lives of hardworking families. Just as we did last Congress when we passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to rebuild our roads and bridges and create jobs. The bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act to reinvest in American manufacturing. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to rein in gun violence and the Bipartisan PACT Act which as of this week, you've heard, has approved more than one million claims for assistance from veterans across our country who were exposed to burn pits and toxic chemicals during their service.

We should be looking to build on that progress, but House Republicans are taking their marching orders from Donald Trump, who opposes anything that could help President Biden in an election year. That's politics at its worst. It's exactly what people hate about Washington. It's why Democrats are taking our message, our commitment to putting People Over Politics directly to voters. And we'll do that when we're home next week. And we'll keep doing it every single week between now and November. Thank you.

Video of the full press conference and Q&A can be viewed here.

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