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Read Rep. Pfluger's full remarks as delivered below:
Mr. Speaker, you are doing a great job. I think we all know today‘s Democratic Party is not the party of JFK, who once famously said, 'Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.' Instead, today, Democrats under Schumer, Clark, and Mamdami are saying, ask not what you can do for your country, but who you can leverage for your radical agenda.
I‘m August Pfluger, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee. We have some great members here with me, and it is really sad to think about what Katherine Clark said last week. She said, of course, there will be families that are going to suffer, but this is one of the few leverage times we have.
My colleagues stand for families. The Republican Party stands for families, because we believe and we know that our greatest asset in this country is the American family. That our country rests on the shoulders of families. That the Republican Party will always advocate for families, that we will look out for families, and that we will legislate to prosper families. Instead, the family is only a point of leverage for our Democrat colleagues. How sad is that?
I am thinking about military families right now. I am thinking about that soldier, who is deployed across the globe to keep our country safe and push back against threats. I am thinking about that phone call that the soldier probably received this year, this month, or in the last couple of days, asking whether or not they will get a paycheck. Talking about the new baby at home. Trying to figure out if they will be able to pay their rent or even buy some groceries or put gas in the car. I was there. I am a veteran. I have served on active duty when shutdowns have happened.
This is a very stressful time for military families and commanders right now. Instead of being focused on the mission, instead of being focused on the threat, instead of being focused on the training and exercises that keep our readiness and lethality at the highest possible levels, now they are focusing all of their attention on making sure that the families of their subordinates, their soldiers, airmen, marines, or sailors, are taken care of, and that they have the resources needed.
We have members of the Republican Party who are in our communities right now, convening groups of community leaders, food banks, and other resources, because Schumer has chosen not to pay them. Now, communities are having to take up 0% interest bridge loans. Now, communities are having to defer mortgage payments and car payments. So where the Democrat Party is failing, our communities are succeeding, because they know that the right thing to do is to find and help in this time of need.
The enemy has not shut down. Our enemies around the world want us to be divided. I am calling on my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, who served in the military, to do the right thing. We were there. We were there when Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi put CR‘s on the floor, and guess what? We did the right thing multiple times. We did the right thing. Where are my democrat colleagues, who served in uniform, to stand up and rise above petty politics, to do the right thing? Have you not gone home to your districts to hear from your communities and military and federal workers? Have you not listened to your local communities telling you to stop the nonsense? No. You know what, they‘re not there. They’re in New York City campaigning for Mamdani. Maybe they orchestrated this so they have the time to campaign for an outright socialist. Maybe this was orchestrated so they could do that.
This is not the party of JFK anymore. This is the party of Schumer and Mamdani, the party that bows to the radical left. I hope that everybody can see the split screen of what is happening in this country. The speaker has so elegantly talked about the fact that Republicans are doing our job to take care of families. That, over 13 times, Republicans have voted to fund our military, our TSA, and make sure all federal workers can get paid. And Democrats continue to obstruct. I hope you can see the dichotomy between the two sides here. I am calling on Democrat members, especially those who served in the military, to do the right thing and to stop the nonsense. With that, I handed over to my good friend, our leader, Mr. Steve Scalise.
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