Lizzie Fletcher Rails Against The GOP-Backed Budget Proposal: ‘It’s Going To Make Life Harder’

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfGAs5iSxSs

 

May 18, 2025

During Tuesday’s House Energy Committee hearing, Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX) discussed the consequences of cutting healthcare support in the proposed budget legislation.

Transcript

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texas

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the gentle lady from texas is recognized

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for her three minutes thank you mr

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chairman like my democratic colleagues

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who spoken before me i am deeply

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concerned about the bill that we are

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considering today a bill that's going to

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make life harder and not better a bill

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that's going to make things more

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expensive not less expensive for all

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americans especially their health care

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if they can get it at all

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and it's not just me the nonpartisan

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congressional budget office has found

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that this bill will take away health

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care from nearly 14 million

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americans and those are people who rely

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on

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medicaid people like ricky who lives

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just down the road from me in texas city

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in the 14th congressional district of

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texas

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ricky is one of the 4.5 million or so

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americans who rely on medicaid to live

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life on his

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own but the wait was years long and this

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bill will make the wait longer for

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people like him if they can get that

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assistance at all i want to share the

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life-changing impact that medicaid home

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healthcare meant in his words i was on

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the waiting list for home and community

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based services for five years and i used

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to live in several large facilities once

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my name came up on the waiting list i

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called everybody to let them know that

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my name came up on the waiting list

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that's when i got to move in on my own

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this was my very first time living on my

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own when my staff came in that next

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morning she asked me what i wanted to

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eat so i scratched my head and said "so

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you mean to tell me that i get to choose

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what i want to

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eat?" and she said "yeah." and so i had

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two boiled eggs and two pieces of toast

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that i wanted and all those other

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facilities i couldn't

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choose as americans we have chosen to

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invest in our country we have chosen to

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create programs to help our neighbors

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and further progress and make practical

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improvements from roads and bridges and

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infrastructure to education and health

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care and scientific research these are

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our choices and we do these things

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because they are essential to liberty

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and freedom and to life in america we

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chose to create medicaid and we chose to

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expand medicaid access in the affordable

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care act and we should be proud of what

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we have done medicaid makes it possible

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for so many americans to live lives of

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meaning with dignity it matters it

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matters for ricky and it matters for all

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of us and this hearing this budget begs

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the question who are we what kind of

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society do we want to be and today the

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house republicans answer in this bill is

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that we want to be one that takes away

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health care from people like ricky to

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give tax cuts to people like elon musk

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that's not my answer and it shouldn't be

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any of our answer and we are able today

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to talk about why and i hope that by the

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time we're done debating this bill we

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can all agree that we can do better by

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and for the american people thank you mr

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chairman i yield back the general lady

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yields does anyone else wish