This view breaks the statement into its steps and names what each one does.
Mr. Speaker, Thanks · 13 wordsI thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for yielding me the customary time, ThanksProcedure · 10 wordsand I yield myself such time as I may consume.Procedure Mr. Speaker, Positioning · 15 wordshow long should the American people have to wait for our prices to come down?Positioning Claims · 20 wordsRepublicans promised that prices would come down on day one. That was 589 days ago, coming up on 2 years.1Off point Mr. Speaker, Procedure · 6 wordsI ask my Republican colleagues again: ProcedurePositioning · 29 wordsHow much longer do we all have to wait? Are they going to tell us, or is it a big surprise? Is it another week, another month, another President?PositioningOff point Mr. Speaker, Positioning · 19 wordswhen are my Republican colleagues going to take responsibility for the fact that they are in charge of everything?Positioning Claims · 17 wordsRepublicans control the House, the Senate, 2and the executive branch. Hell, Republicans even control the Supreme Court.Off point Mr. Speaker, Claims · 20 wordsbecause of Republican policies, the affordability crisis in the United States of America is getting worse. It is getting worse, Positioning · 26 wordsso how long until they acknowledge that their stupid tariffs and their illegal war with Iran are driving up prices and making life harder for people?PositioningOff point Mr. Speaker, Positioning · 9 wordshow long until the Epstein files are fully released?Positioning Claims · 31 wordsSome of us still haven’t forgotten about that one or the fact that the files remain hidden and that Trump’s involvement is being covered up despite congressional laws to the contrary.Hidden agency Positioning · 54 wordsHow long does America have to wait until Republicans stop blaming everybody else and acknowledge that they have failed? I, for one, am sick of the gaslighting and the projection. I am sick of the broken promises. I am sick of the lies. I am sick of the corruption, the grift, and the greed.Positioning Claims · 10 wordsThe people who I represent are sick of it, too.Off point Mr. Speaker, Anecdote · 72 wordsI do a farm tour every year. I represent a lot of rural communities and hundreds and hundreds of small- and medium-sized family farms that have been on the same land for generations. I heard a story about one farmer who is being asked to pay an extra $25,000 for a single piece of essential equipment because of Trump’s tariffs. On top of that, the price of diesel is ruining their livelihood.Anecdote Positioning · 42 wordsThat is what this administration is doing to rural America, to small towns, and to the family farms that I represent. This President and this Republican Congress are destroying them. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are destroying them.Positioning Claims · 73 wordsIt is just as bad for consumers because Trump’s tariffs, trade wars, and higher gas prices are getting passed along to us, as well. Gas is still over $4 a gallon.3 Ground beef is up 9 percent.4 Tomatoes and apples are up over 10 percent.5 Turkey is up 8 percent.6 Fish is up almost 8 percent.7 Cars are more expensive. Clothes are more expensive. Utility bills are more expensive. Everything is more expensive. Positioning · 4 wordsInflation is killing people, PositioningOff pointClaims · 19 wordsand this Republican Congress has a bunch of bills today which will do nothing, nothing, nothing to lower prices. Procedure · 16 wordsI am going to talk about those bills in a second, but first let me say: ProcedurePositioning · 10 wordsDo you know who is not getting destroyed, Mr. Speaker?Positioning Claims · 77 wordsIt is the rich, the powerful, and the well-connected. Those people who hang out in Mar-a-Lago are not getting destroyed. They are doing better than ever. The multimillionaires and the billionaires are doing great, thanks to all the tax breaks that they got. Big Oil, Big Ag, and Big Tech get massive giveaways from Republicans.Off point Some of those giveaways are in the bills we are considering today, one of which is a giveaway to the mining industry, Positioning · 20 wordsand I am sure their lobbyists will get a nice, big bonus for getting that one across the finish line.Positioning Aside · 8 wordsIt is really gross. It is really gross.Aside Claims · 18 wordsThe rich and the powerful are doing better than ever while everyone else is seeing double-digit price increases, Positioning · 12 wordsbut don’t bother trying to get Republicans to do anything about it.Positioning Procedure · 29 wordsLet’s look at their priorities so far this Congress. Here is what they have been doing while gas is $4 a gallon. Let’s see what they have been doing.Procedure Claims · 121 wordsThey have been pretending to rename the Gulf of Mexico, pretending to rename Lake Ontario, pretending to rename The Kennedy Center, introducing a bill to put Donald Trump on Mount Rushmore, introducing a bill to make his birthday a national holiday, introducing a bill to put him on the $100 bill, introducing a bill to name Dulles International Airport after him, 8and introducing a bill to name the Washington Metro after him. I mean, you can’t make this stuff up. These are actual bills that Republicans have introduced; and let us not forget letting the President pilfer taxpayer money to build a tacky ballroom, a stupid arch, and fix the airplane that Qatar bribed--I am sorry, excuse me, donated to him. Positioning · 20 wordsThat is the focus of this Republican Congress. That is what this Republican Congress is obsessed with: worshipping Donald Trump, PositioningClaims · 84 wordswhile you stress out about how you are going to pay your mortgage or your kid’s tuition or your parents’ medical bills. So, I mean, while they worship Donald Trump, the American people have to struggle with how they are going to make ends meet. And they are not getting any help from anything that is going on in this Chamber. The big Republican push this week is repassing a nonbinding resolution that condemns socialism.9 They already passed it, and it already does nothing. Positioning · 45 wordsSo I am not sure why they need to pass it again, but that is their big, important bill this week. You just heard it from the chairwoman of the Rules Committee. What is their definition of ``socialism,’’ you ask? What exactly are they condemning?Positioning Claims · 23 wordsI actually asked Republicans last time around in the Rules Committee to define what they are condemning. To define socialism if you will. Positioning · 5 wordsYou all might be shocked.Positioning Claims · 39 wordsSocial Security? Republicans condemn that as socialism. Medicare? That is socialism. Medicaid? That is socialism. Public schools? That is socialism. Food safety inspections? That is socialism. National parks? That is socialism. Public transit? You guessed it. You guessed it. Positioning · 15 wordsThey must really think Americans are stupid. This is the same old Red Scare bs.Positioning Claims · 15 wordsBy their definition, anyone in the United States who supports Medicaid is a socialist sympathizer. Positioning · 37 wordsI mean, is Joe McCarthy coming back from the dead? This is insane. It is literally crazy that this is the garbage that we are talking about while people are seeing their costs going through the roof.Positioning Claims · 7 wordsPeople can’t afford to make ends meet, Positioning · 38 wordsand this is what this Congress is focused on right now? I mean, come on. While we are on the topic of condemning political ideology that we disagree with, let me ask: Where is their condemnation of fascism?Positioning Claims · 61 wordsI mean, the Trump administration weaponizes the government to silence opposition. It attacks the free press, wants to invade our allies, shoots innocent people in the streets, dehumanizes immigrants by saying that they ``poison the blood of our country,’’ calls political opponents ``the enemy from within,’’ and let’s not forget they tried to overturn a free and fair election in 2020.10 Positioning · 13 wordsIs that not fascism? Where is their condemnation of that? Silence. Silence. Nothing.PositioningOff point Mr. Speaker, Positioning · 46 wordsI don’t envy the gentlewoman’s task today. She has to defend a pretty lousy agenda, and I think she knows it. But I just wish we could get some acknowledgment from the other side that things are not all fine and well in America right now.Positioning Claims · 20 wordsPrices are up. Inflation is up. Bills are higher. Life is harder, and it is because of this President’s policies. Positioning · 78 wordsInstead of acknowledging it, it is like Republicans are living in an alternative reality. I mean, it is like what happened to the Republican Party? It doesn’t exist anymore. It is like a cult. We do have an affordability crisis. That is just a fact.Unearned certainty Instead of working with us to address it, Republicans are pretending like it doesn’t exist. Instead, we get more culture war nonsense and more giveaways to special interests. But November is coming soon.PositioningOff point Mr. Speaker, Positioning · 77 wordsNovember is coming very soon, and I think my Republican colleagues are getting desperate. I think they know that the jig is up. I think they know that the American people are about to hold them accountable for all of their broken promises. I think that is why you are seeing this last-ditch attempt to throw the kitchen sink of culture war issues at the wall to see what sticks.Off point This is a lousy, awful, rotten rule.Positioning Claims · 79 wordsAnd by the way, it is totally closed. Nobody can offer any amendments to anything in this rule. It may even fail because we had a bipartisan vote yesterday in the Rules Committee against this rule, 11so we will see what happens on the floor. But, come on, people are hurting. I would say to my Republican friends: Your constituents are hurting. They want us to do something to help them. They don’t want this. They don’t want this. Positioning · 4 wordsThey want something real.Positioning The ask · 38 wordsSo if you can give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and you can bail out the Mar-a- Lago class, how about helping the average person, the hardworking men and women who are trying to make ends meet. Claims · 10 wordsThat is what they want. That is what they expect.Off point The ask · 7 wordsI urge a ``no’’ vote on this, Procedure · 8 wordsand I reserve the balance of my time.Procedure
Analyzed on