They tried changing the name of their bill. They don't call it the
big, beautiful bill anymore. They said that maybe if they change the
name, then people will like the fact that they can't afford to go to
the doctor anymore because of our tax cuts for the rich.
  Well, that didn't work, so now they are proposing to use floor time
this week to vote on a resolution congratulating themselves for passing
this monstrous bill that has cut healthcare and cut food aid for the
American people in order to pay for tax cuts for people who don't need
it.
  Don't worry. The bill did more than that, by the way. One thing that
it did fund is more ICE agents invading American cities, such as
Minneapolis and Chicago, and killing American citizens in broad
daylight.
  They wonder why the American people aren't grateful for that. Well,
maybe a resolution congratulating ourselves for doing this will do the
trick.
  Why aren't the American people grateful for the fact that whatever
small tax relief was included for the middle class is outweighed
dramatically by the increased costs from the tariffs, the war, and
health insurance premiums skyrocketing?
  Mr. Speaker, how about this: How about we, as a Congress, instead of
using this floor time on meaningless resolutions, actually do the work
of the American people? How about we fund healthcare? How about we fund
food aid? How about we fund education instead of yet more tax cuts for
Elon Musk and the billionaires partying at Mar-a-Lago while working
people suffer?

                              {time}  1300

  Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as
I may consume.
  A couple of things, Mr. Speaker: One is that Federal tax revenues are
actually up this fiscal year over last fiscal year, and that is because
the economy is doing pretty good under President Donald Trump. Again,
tax revenues are up 5 percent over the last year.
  I want to mention one other thing. People under the age of 18 were
exempt from the changes we made in the SNAP benefits. Under 18, they
were exempt. Yet, they still stand up and say we kicked children off of
SNAP. Read the law. If you are under 18, you are exempt from the
changes we made.
  I will speak, Mr. Speaker, about one thing that is in this piece of
legislation, in this rule, that is wrong that I have tried to correct
for many years. If we get the chance to vote on it, I hope we will get
it corrected.
  I will tell you, several years ago, I went to Bethesda, and a young
man I represented had stepped on a pressure plate and lost both legs in
Afghanistan. I stayed in touch with the young man. A couple of years
later, I was taking him hunting. I remember exactly where I was on 475
in central Georgia. He told me: I work at O'Reilly Auto Parts, but I
have to be careful--at the time, it was $1,100 a month--to make sure
that I don't make more than $1,100 a month or my family loses the
Social Security benefits.
  We talked a little while about this. I told him: When I get back to
DC, I am going to meet with the lawyers because that just doesn't sound
right.
  When I came to D.C., I scheduled a meeting with the attorneys up here
who deal with Social Security. I met with them, and I had the
discussion with them. They told me that that is actually the law, that
that is correct.
  Here we have this young man who is combat wounded, totally and
permanently disabled, who wants to go back to work. I am a firm
believer that the number one thing we can do for our veterans,
especially when it comes to veteran suicide and their mental health, is
to get them back to work as soon as possible.
  So, I wrote a piece of legislation that has had multiple cosponsors
from both parties, from all spectrums of the political divide,
conservative, liberal, Democrat, Republican, moderate. We haven't been
able to get it through because of some of the budget rules that plague
this place on good ideas.
  Now, we have H.R. 8884. If it is passed, I am confident that the
concept of the Purple Heart Freedom to Work Act will be put in place as
a pilot project. What it would allow people to do is, for people who
are combat wounded, totally and permanently disabled, it will allow
them to go back to work and keep their Social Security benefits.
  It shouldn't take as long as it has taken to do this and to get this
passed. If this rule passes, I am confident that H.R. 8884 will pass.
If we can get it through the Senate--and that is a big ``if'' with
getting anything through the Senate--then, hopefully, our combat-
wounded, totally and permanently disabled veterans can go back to work
and not be afraid of going back to work because they would lose their
Social Security benefits.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I have to admit I was taken a little bit aback by the
gentleman's statement earlier when he said the economy is doing
``pretty good.'' I think those are his exact words.
  I am kind of stunned by that because inflation is up. The price of
groceries is up. The price of gas is up. The price of housing is up.
The price of everything is up. People, by every poll that has been
conducted, whether it is on the left, on the right, or in the center,
say the same thing: People are not satisfied with this economy. They do
not think it is pretty good, no matter what their party affiliation is.
They do not think it is good.
  Now, maybe if you are Republican in the House of Representatives and
you hang around with the Mar-a-Lago class, maybe they think it is
pretty good. I mean, Elon Musk is now the first trillionaire. I guess
he thinks it is pretty good.
  If you are the average worker, whether it is in Massachusetts or
Georgia or California or South Dakota, you don't share that view
because it isn't. Things are actually pretty bad. Things are pretty
bad.
  The gentleman said that poor kids are not losing their SNAP benefits.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record an
article titled: ``Over 700,000 Poor Kids Across 12 States Have Lost
Food Aid Under Trump-GOP Budget Law.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.

Over 700,000 Poor Kids Across 12 States Have Lost Food Aid Under Trump-
                             GOP Budget Law