Chairman Aguilar: House Republicans continue to cave to Donald Trump and will always rubberstamp his costly agenda.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar and Vice Chair Ted Lieu held a press conference calling out Trump and Republicans for their harmful agenda, which is driving up costs across the board. You can watch the full press conference here and read the transcript below.
CHAIRMAN AGUILAR: Welcome back, everyone. We hope everybody had a productive August. That goes not just for the members, but for all of you as well. A time to recharge and to look ahead. For our part, the Vice Chair and I were back home in our districts, as well as traveling around the country talking about the issues that matter most to Americans. And it's no shocker that it's the costs that they face that are driving them and their families. We heard the same thing in rural, urban, suburban districts and coastal communities alike: the cost of living is just too high. Hardworking families are asking themselves how they're going to pay their rent, how they're going to put food on the table, how they pay for prescription costs and how they're going to afford to send their kids to school. Yet all of these concerns fall on deaf ears to our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Trump seems to be waking up every day and asking himself how he can make life worse for people, how families will continue to struggle under his policies. And once again, we're in a trade war with a close ally. We're in an actual war with Iran that is in month seven after the president himself told us it would be done in just a few weeks.
And Americans know that these two issues alone don't tell the full story. Elevated prices are going to make their life harder, and that's what they're experiencing. Just look at what's happening in Canada. One of our most important trading partners, a country whose economy is integrated with our own. Trump's trade fight will result in fewer jobs and higher costs for American consumers. But Trump and House Republicans just don't seem to care, and we haven't heard a single differentiating point among House Republicans to these Trump policies. I haven't heard from Gabe Evans, or a complaint from Kevin Kiley or Max Miller or Zach Nunn or Scott Perry. But we all know why. House Republicans continue to cave to Donald Trump and will always rubberstamp his costly agenda. But Democrats won't. We believe in a vision for our country where families go to bed without worrying about their financial situation. Where they can know that their government is putting them and their families' needs first. And where people in power aren't profiting at the expense of the working class. That's what's at stake in this election, and that's why Democrats are going to work hard to ensure that we take back the House in 63 days. With that, I’ll turn over to Vice Chair Ted Lieu.
VICE CHAIR LIEU: Thank you, Chairman Aguilar. Average gas prices are over $4 a gallon. Diesel prices are even higher. Utility prices are up. Grocery prices are up. And what is the Trump administration focused on? Changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America. And it's not just Trump; it's also Republicans. House Republicans are introducing legislation to make that a law. How does any of that reduce prices for American families? It doesn't. We ask the Trump administration and House Republicans to focus on what Americans care about, which is to reduce prices.
Now, some of you may have seen an article today about a whistleblower at the United States Postal Service saying that the Postal Service is trying to implement Donald Trump's executive order on mail ballots, even though right now the courts have said that that order is unconstitutional. So Leader Jeffries earlier this year established a task force with Ranking Member Joe Morelle to look at different scenarios where the Trump administration is going to try to suppress the vote of the American people. This is one of the scenarios that they envisioned. The Democratic Caucus is working with Attorneys General, with civil society groups, with nonprofits across America to address these issues. One of the messages I want to give the American people is: the Democratic Caucus is on this. We're working to fight back. The other message I want to give is: just go f---ing vote. The Trump administration is going to try to suppress your vote and put obstacles in front of you. Find a way around it. If you don't get a mail-in ballot, go vote in person. Make sure you vote early. If you discover you're not registered to vote, well, go register to vote. You can go check right now if you're registered to vote. Make sure that you go vote. That's the best way to stick it to the administration that's trying to keep you from voting. Go vote.
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