James P. McGovern

Mr. Speaker, Procedure · 9 wordsI yield myself such time as I may consume.Procedure Mr. Speaker, Positioning · 128 wordsyou know, one of the frustrating things about kind of where we are in terms of political debate in this country is that issues that really matter to regular people are being ignored or being shoved aside because, quite frankly, Republicans don’t want to do anything about it. They know that their agenda is unpopular.Unearned certainty They know that people are struggling with the issue of affordability.Unearned certainty They know that people are having a tough time paying their rent, filling up their gas tanks, affording healthcare costs--I can go on and on and on--buying food, Unearned certaintyand they don’t want to talk about that. They know that the American people kind of are sick and tired of what they are doing here, Unearned certaintyand so they are trying to divert attention.Positioning Claims · 60 wordsI just want to address something that happened this morning, and that is the Republican leadership in this House held this wackadoodle press conference. I have never quite seen anything like it, trying to divert attention away from issues of affordability and get people to look someplace else. Basically, the Republican Party’s new favorite talking point is calling Democrats Communists. Positioning · 119 wordsI mean, oh, my God, Mr. Speaker, I mean, really? Really? Communists? Did we accidentally step into a time machine? I get it. I get it. They don’t want to talk about the real issues, the bread-and-butter issues. They don’t want to talk about affordability. I guess my question is, is Joe McCarthy back from the dead? It sounds like that is who wrote all the garbage coming from Republicans about communism. These guys dust off the same, tired, old talking points every time they are backed into a corner. Every time a new poll comes out saying that their economic agenda sucks, what they do is they change the subject. They try to divert attention. It is pathetic.Positioning Procedure · 13 wordsBut, fine, if they want to play that game, let’s play that game.Procedure Claims · 219 wordsLet’s talk about the Republican Party, a party that worships one man above the Constitution in a cult of personality, a party that demonizes immigrants and says they poison the blood of our country, a party that calls the free press the enemy of the people and sics the Justice Department on journalists they don’t like.¹²³ It is a party that says their political opponents are internal enemies and calls them ``the enemy within.’’⁴ It is a party that is okay with invading our allies, including other democracies, and it is a party that punishes their political opponents. It is a party that has deployed troops on our own streets, that wants to use the American military on the American people.⁵ It is a party that believes any unhinged lie, fantasy, and conspiracy theory as long as it comes from one man. It is a party that tries to lock up Members of Congress for exercising their free speech rights. It is a party that has tried to violently overthrow the results of a free and fair election in the United States of America.⁶ It is a party that, in fact, pardoned everyone who invaded this building on January 6, 2021, ⁷and tried to throw out the votes of millions of Americans because the President couldn’t accept a loss. Positioning · 104 wordsHow dare that party lecture anyone. How dare they talk about communism when their own party has totally lost touch not just with the founding ideals of this country but lost touch with reality itself? If we are going to start assigning political labels based on conduct, then let’s call things by their proper names. The Republican Party has become the party of fascism, full stop.Unearned certainty They have become a party of far-right fascists who are hell-bent on destroying our country and our way of life. Every single time they call us Communists, it is nothing more than a projection of their own radicalization.Positioning Claims · 44 wordsThey don’t want to talk about that, and they definitely don’t want to talk about their higher grocery prices or skyrocketing gas prices or higher inflation or the cost of healthcare or their new endless illegal war that has now cost over $100 billion.⁸ Positioning · 28 wordsInstead, they scream and they yell because they have nothing else left to offer. This would be funny, Mr. Speaker, if it weren’t so pathetic and so unhinged.PositioningOff point Mr. Speaker, Positioning · 69 wordsDemocrats are patriots who love this country enough to fight for it. We are fighting to make it easier for people to afford groceries.Vague promise We are fighting to try to make it easier for people to afford rent, prescription drugs, Vague promiseand healthcare. We will not be lectured by a fascist Republican Party that offers the American people nothing but lies, fear, endless culture wars, and tax breaks for billionaires.PositioningOff point Mr. Speaker, Procedure · 7 wordsI reserve the balance of my time.Procedure