Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, delivered a fiery rebuke Wednesday against Republicans backing President Donald Trump’s controversial budget bill—one that slashes $1 trillion from Medicaid, guts Medicare by hundreds of billions, and makes deep cuts to SNAP, the federal food assistance program—all while handing massive tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans.
With the House given just one hour of debate before the rushed vote—timed to meet Trump’s self-imposed July 4 deadline—McGovern took to the floor to condemn what he described as a heartless attack on working-class Americans.
“You can live without a lot of things,” McGovern said, “but you can’t live without food.”
Calling out Republicans who support slashing food aid while giving billionaires like Jeff Bezos a tax cut, McGovern didn’t hold back: “We don’t share the same values.”
He warned that the bill would dump billions in new costs onto already-strained state budgets, forcing them to cut benefits and remove people from SNAP. “It’s a rotten thing to do,” he said.
“And I believe there’s a special place in hell for people who take food away from veterans, seniors, children, foster youth, and hungry families. This is sick. This is disgusting.”
McGovern also blasted the rushed timeline, calling it “legislative malpractice.”
“There is no emergency,” he said. “No fiscal cliff. No looming crisis.”
“We’re here today because Donald Trump wants a fireworks show on the Fourth of July—to celebrate himself. He wants flags, cameras, and applause. Not for the country, but for his ego.”
Mocking the pageantry surrounding the bill, McGovern described the process as cult-like. After a GOP member made a speech in support of the bill next to a poster of Trump and fireworks, McGovern quipped: “Cult much?”
