Chairman Aguilar: America will be less safe and more expensive because of Trump and Republican corruption
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar and Vice Chair Ted Lieu held a press conference on House Republicans’ failure to lower the high cost of living while prioritizing stealing taxpayer dollars from vital programs to pay for tax giveaways to billionaires.
CHAIRMAN AGUILAR: Good morning. House Democrats had a productive Caucus this morning. Leader Jeffries laid out our path forward as we push back against the chaos and the corruption that we've seen from Donald Trump's White House.
One thing is clear: with Trump and Republicans in control, America will be less safe and more expensive. We are less safe because an unelected billionaire with controversial ties to China has access to personal information for every American, including potentially tax and Social Security information. We're less safe because President Trump released violent criminals into our communities, some with records of domestic violence, rape and attacking police officers. We are less safe because hundreds of FBI agents are on the verge of being fired for not being sufficiently loyal to Donald Trump. Women who serve in the military are less safe today because of an executive order Donald Trump signed preventing them from traveling across state lines to seek abortion care.
America is more expensive because egg prices are at an all time high, and Republicans in Congress have not taken a single step to reduce the cost of living. The reckless Republican tariffs will increase costs for households by $1,200 each year. Everything from groceries to alcohol to lumber used to build homes will be more expensive. The Republican rip off will increase health care costs by stealing from Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and corporations.
The American people voted for solutions to their economic challenges and instead got a corrupt White House in an America that is less safe and more expensive. Vice Chair Ted Lieu.
VICE CHAIR LIEU: Thank you, Chairman Aguilar. Leader Jeffries has laid out a 10-point plan to fight back against the lawless actions of the Trump Administration. That plan has three themes. There's going to be a legislative strategy, a mobilization strategy and a litigation strategy. To that end, over 25 lawsuits have already been filed. We expect that a number of these actions by the Trump Administration will be reversed because all the courts have to do is follow the law. And in fact, if you look at what happened, a number of Trump’s actions have been stopped or the Administration has simply folded.
The Administration wants you to think that they are invincible, that they are just rolling right along and doing all these things. That is simply not true. A number of times they have been stopped, and they have had to back down. So, for example, on the birthright citizenship order, a Reagan-appointed federal judge declared it unconstitutional, put an injunction on it. And then with the OMB freeze memo, there was pushback from Democrats, from the American people, and they had to rescind that memo, and a judge also declared that memo to be illegal. And then most recently, you saw Trump's signature issue, the tariffs. He backed out because of the reaction from the stock market and the reaction from the American people. Basically, Canada and Mexico are doing what they said they were already going to do. So essentially, Donald Trump simply folded on that issue. So, I want people to understand their power to shape public sentiment.
And not only are the Trump Administration's actions ludicrous, they are harming people. So, I’ll end on this example: In California, Donald Trump ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to release a whole bunch of water from these dams when no one needed it. So, over 2 billion gallons of water has now been wasted in California. This water from Northern California isn't even going down to Southern California. It's largely going to evaporate when farmers don't need it, and so Republican Congressman David Valadao is going to have to answer to his farmers when in the summer months, they need water and they don't have enough.
Those are the harmful actions of this Administration, and I want people to understand that pushing back against this Administration gets them to fold.
Video of the full press conference and Q&A can be viewed here.
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