Congressman Cohen Speaks and Votes Against Drastic Republican Budget Resolution

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today spoke from the House floor and later voted against the Republican budget resolution for the Fiscal Year 2025 that also sets budget levels through 2034.

The measure passed on a 217 to 215 vote.

In his floor speech, Congressman Cohen said in part:

“This budget is about the millionaires, the billionaires, the people earning over $400,000 a year, and giving them a $4 trillion tax cut over the next 10 years. It’s not about working people. It’s about hurting working people. Hurting the poor, hurting people with disabilities, and hurting children. What this Congress is looking at doing, because of Musk and Trump and the Republican colleagues here that I share the floor with, is cutting and cutting and cutting programs that help the public.

“In October, Elon Musk incorporated in Texas the United States of America Inc. What that means: it shows his mentality. He thinks he owns this government. He’s bought it. He’s been given it and he doesn’t care about anybody else. He is the only stockholder. America: you are not a stockholder. You are the people who gave him the money to give it to the billionaires and millionaires who were first in President Trump’s inaugural crowd. They were first in the crowd. They’re first in his mind. They’re first in his heart. They’re his people.”

Watch the floor speech here.

According to the House Ways and Means Committee’s analyses, the Republican budget resolution would, among other things:

• Make $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid, which provides health care to one in four children, and potentially eliminate coverage for 21 million people; 
• End to premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act policies that save families on average $6,432 a year;
• Extend the 2017 tax cut for the wealthy that not only didn’t pay for itself but will explode the deficit by $4.6 trillion over ten years and will cut the average bill for taxpayers making $1 million a year by $78,717 a year;
• Repeal Inflation Reduction Act Green Energy incentives, causing less investment and an estimated 100,000 fewer jobs;
• Crowd out private investment and reduce the U.S. domestic product.

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