During a debate on the House floor on Thursday, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) discussed the House Republican agenda.
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00:00The gentleman from Arkansas Reserves, the gentleman from California is recognized.
00:03Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have no further requests for time, and we're prepared to close.
00:08I reserve.
00:09The reserves. The gentleman from Arkansas is recognized.
00:12I have no further requests for time, and we're prepared to close our reserve.
00:18The gentleman from Reserves. The gentleman from California is recognized.
00:23Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I think it says a lot that as we have wasted the last hour of
00:27Congress's time on a deeply unserious bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico, Republicans have
00:35offered just one speaker in support of this preposterous piece of legislation, this monumental
00:42disaster, this insult to the American people, and this giant middle finger to the rest of
00:48the world. The only speaker to speak in support of this was the gentle lady from Georgia, and
00:54I think that just tells us an awful lot today.
00:58You know, the American people think that Congress should do real work, and there's plenty of
01:03real work to be done. Americans are watching their 401 s in freefall from this president's
01:10reckless tariff games. Tariff chaos that is happening by using Congress's Article I Trade
01:18and Commerce Authority. And what is this Congress doing about it? Worse than nothing. They've tied
01:24their own hands, because in their government funding bill, they created the gimmick of a
01:29never-ending legislative day to prevent them from using their emergency authorities to put some
01:35sensible sideboards on Donald Trump's tariff madness. In the district right next to mine in Napa County,
01:43the Trump administration abruptly canceled a $50 million wildfire prevention grant just four months
01:50months after one of the deadliest wildfires in California history. And that's been the story
01:56throughout the West. Critical funding, a critical need for firefighters and for projects that make us
02:02safer from wildfire in total chaos or canceled because of this madness with Elon Musk and Doge and an
02:11unhinged president. And what do we hear from our colleagues across the aisle? Nothing. We get bills like this to
02:17rename the Gulf of Mexico. Tribal communities are being hammered around the country. Food insecurity
02:23programs are being defunded. Education programs frozen. Healthcare resources slashed. And all the while,
02:30the administration continues to fire essential agency scientists, public servants, en masse. And this
02:38Republican Congress shrugs. The majority is wasting time on an ego-driven rebrand, a performative stunt
02:48rooted in President Trump's imperial edict, absurdly titled, Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness.
02:58You know, this is so obviously what authoritarians through history have done. They do things like
03:06call for parades on their own birthday or rename things or do other stunts to distract the American
03:16people from the way they're lining their own pockets and taking away fundamental rights. And this
03:22Republican Congress appears to be perfectly fine with that. You know, a new CNN national poll shows the
03:28majority of Americans believe Congress is not doing enough to check this president's actions. Nearly half say the
03:36current administration is weakening our democracy, our economy, and our global standing. And this bill
03:42really is exhibit A. We're not just renaming a Gulf, we're drowning public trust in what this institution
03:50is supposed to do. Serve the people, solve problems, defend democracy. And yes, this bill has been called a joke
03:58more than once in committee. I even offered an amendment to rename the entire planet Trump just to
04:05underscore the absurdity of their sycophantic bootlicking. But now, after seeing this bill
04:11advance not only through committee, but all the way through to the House floor for a final vote,
04:17it's getting a little bit harder to laugh because it's not a joke anymore. It's a case study in misplaced
04:24priorities. When you start erasing or changing phrases like climate change, equity, or disadvantaged
04:31communities from government websites, when you ban them from scientific reports, you're not just
04:37playing word games, you're dismantling our capacity to even name the problems we face, let alone fix them,
04:45but we're renaming bodies of water. Mr. Speaker, we're about to open the roll. And as we watch the red and
04:54green light up on the big board, I think it's going to be a pretty good proxy for which members of Congress
05:00still think that we should be doing serious work, that we should be reclaiming our Article I
05:06responsibilities under the Constitution, that we should have a little bit of dignity in the face of
05:12a deeply unserious bill that has wasted our time, and which members of Congress are simply bending the
05:19knee to Donald Trump and stroking one man's ego in everything they do. I yield back.
05:25And then we'll come back.