Gluesenkamp Perez Statement on House Passage of Budget Reconciliation Bill
Today, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) released the following statement regarding her vote against a partisan budget reconciliation bill that passed the House:
“Most of us want honest debate, compromise, and bipartisanship – not party favors for special interests and political parties. But Washington, D.C. is way out of balance when only one party has control, and we all suffer for it.
Congress had an opportunity to level the playing field for everyday people and small businesses – by cutting red tape, building national health, and unleashing low-cost energy. Instead the Majority made the terrain more uneven for hardworking families.
I repeatedly joined the Blue Dogs to offer our help crafting a fiscally-responsible proposal that provides tax relief for middle class families in Southwest Washington – but unfortunately the Speaker showed no appetite for bipartisanship.
Under this bill, everyday families will come out in the negative, while Wall Street reaps the real benefits. The top 0.1 percent of taxpayers would receive an average handout of $118,630 a year – while the bottom 20 percent lose $560 a year.
Plus, it’s one of the largest explosions of our deficit ever from a single bill. A $4 trillion debt increase might just seem like another number on paper to politicians in D.C. – but that amounts to $31,000 in spending for every U.S. household. It’s unsustainable to pass that burden of debt on to our kids.
Not to mention, our soaring national debt will worsen inflation and interest rates – while the bill drives up costs on energy, food, and healthcare premiums.
This legislation also will strip healthcare away from 17 million Americans – which is more than twice the total population of our state.
That’s 31,000 people in Southwest Washington who stand to lose healthcare – and rural hospitals across Southwest Washington are expected to lose tens of millions of dollars, which could put these lifelines at risk of collapse. This doesn’t only affect those on Medicaid – when rural hospitals suffer, the health of rural communities like mine suffers.
Our community health centers and our corrections officers also pay the price when we gut Medicaid. I’ve been on the ground to hear from them how cuts like these will make their work even more difficult fighting our fentanyl and mental health crises on the front lines.
I refuse to defend bureaucratic inefficiency – and we need to aggressively root out waste, fraud, and abuse in our federal programs. It’s why I recently voted against a bill that would defund our federal auditing watchdog by 50 percent. But suffocating hardworking citizens, seniors, and people with disabilities with more convoluted forms to fill out isn’t how we do it.
This bill has become so big and bloated that my colleagues have lost the plot. It’s grown detached from the President’s original promises to balance the budget, not touch Medicaid, and close the carried interest loophole, a measure I’ve led.
It was pushed through with budget gimmicks that disrespect the intelligence of my community despite bipartisan opposition – and it was designed to shirk responsibility, with many of these harmful provisions only going into effect after the midterm elections.
It’s a shame that this bill passed the House by the slimmest of margins – and I’ll be working in the coming weeks to hear from our community about how I can provide the most support as we face the impacts of this reckless legislation.”
In May, the Congresswoman voted against an earlier version of the bill in the House, and yesterday, she released a statement about the Senate’s changes to the bill.