5.20.2026 Weekly Press Conference

Añadido: 2026-05-25

[00:00:06]Want to thank Vice Chair Ted Lieu for joining us and Ranking Member Brendan Boyle with the Budget Committee.

[00:00:12]Donald Trump and House Republicans this week are once again proving that this is the most corrupt administration in our nation's 250 years. Americans didn't vote for a slush fund to bail out January 6th insurrectionists with felony convictions or to build ballrooms with helipads or to help Trump and his billionaire donors get rich trading stocks. Yet, that's exactly what this administration has been doing.

[00:00:39]And in Congress, it stopped much better.

[00:00:41]Last year, Republicans passed the largest health care cut and food assistance cut in American history just to give billionaires and wealthy corporations record profits.

[00:00:54]Continued tax cuts. Now, this week they're doubling down on their disastrous misuse of taxpayer funds by giving an out-of-control ICE $70 billion with zero reforms while they continue to push a ballroom that costs a billion dollars.

[00:01:11]All of this comes at a time when hardworking Americans are already struggling within the weight of Trump's costly tariffs and skyrocketing food and gas prices thanks to his war of choice with Iran.

[00:01:24]Americans are smart. They know Trump's policies are directly impacting their wallets and they know that Republicans aren't concerned about improving their lives. It's no wonder his economic rating is hovering around 30%, a career low.

[00:01:40]Republicans know that they're hurting Americans and do you want to know what the response is? Jim Jordan says, "That's life."

[00:01:48]Mike Lawler said that the Iran war is absolutely worth it.

[00:01:53]And Trump even doubled down saying that his comment didn't that his comment that he didn't think about Americans financial situation he called a perfect statement.

[00:02:04]When a demo when a Democrat is in power Republicans love to play the blame game, but when they're in power Republicans tell Americans to be patient even as they face financial ruin.

[00:02:15]Remember Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the presidency. They could work with Democrats at any time they want to lower the costs that Americans face.

[00:02:25]I hope they'll finally listen and work with us. Vice Chair Ted Lieu.

[00:02:31]Thank you, Chairwoman You are.

[00:02:33]We have a cost of living emergency in America.

[00:02:37]Gas prices are skyrocketing, grocery prices are surging, mortgage rates are climbing, and what are Trump and Republicans focused on?

[00:02:46]A $1 billion taxpayer-funded ballroom, a giant arch in DC to honor Trump, and now we learn a nearly $1.8 billion slush fund to pay criminals who are friends of Donald Trump including January 6th rioters.

[00:03:05]November is coming.

[00:03:08]Now, let me tell you a little bit about why this nearly $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund is completely unethical and totally ridiculous.

[00:03:17]First of all, it came as a result of a settlement between the IRS and the Department of Justice.

[00:03:24]Well, it turns out both those agencies are the same entity cuz they both report to Donald Trump. So, it's like settling with yourself.

[00:03:32]And with these fake negotiations and this fake settlement, magically appears nearly $1.8 billion to pay people who have been convicted of crimes. This is completely unethical.

[00:03:45]The people drafting this document know it's unethical.

[00:03:49]Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will lose his law license after his term is over because he's engaging in flatly unethical behavior. You can't have a fake settlement with fake negotiations with essentially one entity negotiating against itself and then just paying out taxpayer money that Congress never authorized to go to criminals.

[00:04:10]And now I'm honored to represent, I'm sorry, to present to you the amazing representative from Pennsylvania, Brendan Boyle, who's also the ranking member of the House Budget Committee.

[00:04:24]Thank you and and thank you to both the chair and and vice chair.

[00:04:27][clears throat] Well, here we are to debate and vote on the Billion-Dollar Ballroom Act. You know, if you take a step back, you recognize just how absurd this situation is.

[00:04:41]We have right now healthcare costs out of control thanks to the Republican cuts that were passed last summer and signed into law by pres by the president. Let's not forget that's even before the Medicaid cuts come into effect this December when it is projected we will begin to see the 15 million Americans who are about to lose their healthcare because of the Republican bill passed last summer.

[00:05:08]But that's not all, not just healthcare.

[00:05:11]Food prices skyrocketing, far higher today than they were a year and a half ago.

[00:05:17]And gas prices?

[00:05:19]Gas prices were actually a bit of a bright spot two and a half months ago.

[00:05:23]Gas in my area, like the national average, was just under $3 a gallon.

[00:05:28]Where is it today?

[00:05:30]An average of $4.52 a gallon and climbing. A more than 50% increase in just 2 months. We haven't seen something like that in 60 years.

[00:05:41]So, it's no wonder that we have consumer sentiment at a record low in the University of Michigan study, a study that goes back and has been asked every month since 1952.

[00:05:53]And the president's approval when it comes to the economy, the lowest recorded for any president since George W. Bush at the height of the Great Recession.

[00:06:04]What an unmitigated disaster this administration has been when it comes to the economy.

[00:06:12]The people are desperately in need of help. They are in desperate need to make their lives more affordable.

[00:06:19]And what do the Republicans offer them?

[00:06:22]The billion-dollar ballroom.

[00:06:24]All to honor their dear leader.

[00:06:28]It's about time they start putting the people first and not their dear leader.

[00:06:35]Questions?

[00:06:37]Max.

[00:06:39]Thank you. Uh, there was just a big bipartisan vote on the housing package.

[00:06:42]Can you comment on that and what it means uh, going forward for bipartisanship in the House? Strong bipartisan bill. I want to give recognition Maxine Waters and and Sherman French Hill uh, a lot of credit. Um, they put forward a product that a lot of us could stand behind and I believe every Democrat present voted for it.

[00:07:03]Um, something that's a long needed.

[00:07:04]We've talked all along and I mentioned in my in my comments that there are there are a lot of problems with affordability, housing, health care, utilities, gas, groceries.

[00:07:16]You know, housing is one that we can uh, we need to work with other levels of government, our state leaders, county and city leaders. Uh, but this is something that we that we can affect.

[00:07:25]Uh, and this was a strong bill, a collection of a lot of ideas.

[00:07:29]Um, but it also is an opportunity for the House to assert itself. It wasn't long ago where the senators just said, you know, just hours ago they said just take this and eat it, right? Um, and Uh, we appreciate our House colleagues stepping up and putting together a bipartisan product. That's what we can do when when we work together. And if Republican leadership gives their members a little bit of space to do that, sometimes they they can. And I wish that this place would do more of that.

[00:07:57]Michael. Thank you. That's appreciated.

[00:07:59]I wanted to ask about accountability as you all also focus on cost of living and affordability issues. Obviously, the opposite of this is opposition across the country to this to the ballroom.

[00:08:12]You know, what anti-regulation found that Mr. Lee talked about. How do How do you all kind of thread this needle between talking about affordability and cost of living, bringing down gas prices and housing that you just spoke about, but also accountability because a lot of this accountability and oversight won't happen until you all get back the majority. So, the question I'm asking is if you're making all of these commitments on bringing down the cost of living, how does that How are you going to also focus on holding this administration accountable for all the waste and corruption that has not happened [laughter] in the in the country's history? As as as Leader Jeffries has said, when it comes to oversight, it's a target-rich environment down the block, down at 1600 Pennsylvania. Just in the last couple days, Michael, you have the you know, 1.8 you know, billion dollars that we're talking about. There's been discussion of you know, helipads as part of a side agreement potentially included in this.

[00:09:07]The president, his family members, his entities can never be audited or second-guessed by the IRS. I mean, all of these things in a in a normal environment, each one of those would have been worthy of congressional, you know, oversight.

[00:09:22]That's what this president does. He throws everything at the at the wall and he wants to see what sticks. We don't have the luxury of doing just one thing. We don't have the luxury of just focusing on on one thing. We have to do oversight and accountability >> [snorts] >> when we're when we take the gavels, but we also have to deliver for the American public and we've talked about what that looks like, lowering the cost that people face. They're getting crushed with health care costs. They're getting crushed.

[00:09:49]Brendan mentioned gas prices, you know, over $6 in in Southern California for a gallon of gas. I mean, these are the real things that people are concerned about and so we don't have the luxury of just focusing on one. We have to do it all and we have to present over the next few months. We have to tell the American people exactly what we're going to do to make their lives better and yes, that does include asking tough questions to the White House and holding them accountable for the slush funds that they're creating and that they want to give potentially, you know, million dollar settlements to violent criminals who broke into this building. But we will have time to to ask a lot of those questions.

[00:10:30]We're focused on where we go for the next few months and how we drive down the costs that people face and how we win and how we win in November so we have an opportunity to do that. I'll ask Vice Chair Lieu and then Ranking Member Boyle to.

[00:10:45]Democrats are going to do what we're telling the American people we're going to do when we flip the house, which is lower costs. So we're going to pass off the floor legislation to reduce the largest Medicare cut in US history by Republicans. We're going to pass legislation to get rid of the Medicare cuts that happened because of the way the Republicans wrote the bill. We're also going to pass legislation to restore the ACA tax credits.

[00:11:10]At the same time, our committees are going to do the work of what committees have always done in the past, which is oversight. So today, Ranking Member Raskin on House Judiciary is making requests for subpoenas to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the other people that worked on this slush fund document. This $1.8 billion dollar fund is so unethical that the general counsel of the IRS resigned because of it. So, we want acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to come in right now and answer questions.

[00:11:41]If Republicans don't go along with that, we're going to get the gavels, as the chairman said, next term, and we will get acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in, if he lasts that long.

[00:11:54]Thanks. I don't have anything to add.

[00:11:55]Thanks.

[00:11:57]I want to ask you if uh for your reaction to the indictment of Raul Castro just now, and whether we can see any kind of action from House Democrats uh in the event of military action against Cuba.

[00:12:09]Uh I just I just saw the headline. Um so, I'd need to read a little bit more.

[00:12:13]Um but, obviously, this is an administration that um uh believes that they uh can go into other countries um uh and and grab foreign leaders.

[00:12:25]Uh we have pushed back strenuously. We have asked questions about not just Venezuela, but about Trump's reckless war in Iran.

[00:12:32]Um and this seems to be another area where the president is uh using every tool he can to deflect against a reckless war of choice, um and to distract from the American public that he's trying to, you know, to enrich his family. Um those are all the things that we know this this president does, and this is, you know, one more one more example. I haven't read the the details uh of the indictment. Obviously, this is the similar um uh metric to what they've used in in Venezuela seeking a uh an indictment in US court. Um so, we'll see what the next steps are. I'm not prejudging those, um but we'll continue to gather facts and work with the relevant committees, including Judiciary and others, to to ask questions.

[00:13:17]Thank you, Chairman Engel. Eric [snorts] Rosales with EWTN, the Global Catholic Network. Yeah, I mean, with this Castro indictment, a lot of a lot of people are just a lot of lawmakers are concerned that we're going to see the same pattern that happened with Iran and with Venezuela. And just >> [clears throat] >> is there anything that Democrats can do checks and balance to prevent any sort of military action besides bringing possible impeachment charge Well, look every week we've been here we've had an Iran war powers resolution.

[00:13:49]We have stood up time and time again to hold this administration accountable and to tell them to stop reckless wars.

[00:13:58]If there is another invasion, we will have we will be guided by the Foreign Affairs Committee and and potentially judiciary if this is a US indictment. So those are the the types of questions that we can that we can ask about pushing this administration. Is is is something that we can do. Obviously this is all breaking and this is news to us. It's not like they sent us a memo or anything when they when they did this. So we'll begin and and have more to say in the future.

[00:14:28]Chad.

[00:14:30]There've been a number of nominees or Democratic candidates who have expressed some remarkably anti-Semitic tropes like gentleman in Texas, there's the gentleman in Pennsylvania and I'd like you to weigh in on this as well. How is the Democratic Party going to grapple with that especially in your caucus when Republicans might try to turn that anti-Semitism against them and say well, you know, Democrats might be that with large. How do you how do you deal with that in your in your caucus? We need to speak out when we when we see it.

[00:14:58]We need to speak out against anti-Semitism. We need to speak out against Islamophobia when we see it. We need to hold folks accountable for their actions and their and their words.

[00:15:08]But what we also need to do is hold Republicans accountable because in that exact race that you're talking about Chad, Texas 35, Republicans are propping up that person who in any other environment would not would be disqualifying and would never have the oxygen to be the Democratic nominee.

[00:15:26]It's only with potentially a million dollars that super PACs and and Republican PACs could be behind this. They have not said that.

[00:15:38]But they need to be asked the question and I don't know why anybody isn't asking them the question. Why they can't disavow this individual and why they can't ensure that no funds go to this individual. They are they are seeking to do this for one simple purpose. And it is because they have a damaged candidate in that race. And they are trying to prop up somebody with baggage who does not speak for House Democrats and does not speak for the Democratic Party. And so we will continue to say that as loud as we can. Because that's just the reality of the situation. But it's Republicans who are propping up this candidate and making this an issue for someone who otherwise would be disqualifying from from even seeking office.

[00:16:24]Doug Mastriano really isn't behind this candidate. I spoke to Senator Fetterman this morning.

[00:16:29]He's waiting to go on to hop with this guy in in Harrisburg. What's your response to somebody who's from in Philadelphia? Well, I mean Northeast Philadelphia to be clear. But Chad, let's I think we need to be intellectually honest on the topic of anti-Semitism. I have seen and observed certain comments and actions that I would characterize as originating on the fringes of either political spectrum.

[00:16:55]And we need to condemn it in all its shapes or forms. We also have to be careful not to conflate anti-Semitism with those who criticize certain actions of the Netanyahu government. Um We're standing here three proud patriotic Americans including one veteran who served our country honorably.

[00:17:17]We're standing here saying things that happen to be critical of the president of the United States.

[00:17:22]Well, that doesn't make us inherently anti-American. I would say quite the opposite. So, let's make sure that in a unified voice, we call out anti-Semitism wherever it originates.

[00:17:35]And then specifically, we have to make sure our dollars aren't supporting it.

[00:17:39]We have right now a Republican super PAC, a dark money group, that is pumping in a ton of money to prop up this uh this woman who said some of the most vile things just yesterday, which I condemned on Twitter as soon as I saw them. So, let's put our money where our mouths are, and I call on my Republican colleagues to repeat the same call that no one should be funding this individual, especially an outside dark money Republican group.

[00:18:13]On reconciliation, I know House Republicans tried to get it done by the end of the Senate, but it gives them by Do you think it's possible that later in the summer, perhaps in the fall, there could be some negotiations on some of the reforms that us Democrats wanted for ICE and for immigration enforcement, like masks and uh warrants, things like that?

[00:18:34]We've been We've been very clear. Look, we will be We will always be hopeful because we can legislate in this in this body, um and when we work together on things like housing, um sometimes we can find common ground. Uh our Republican colleagues have not wanted to meet us halfway on this at all. We've been very clear with what we want to see out of reforms to ICE and CBP. It starts and ends with them acting like a real law enforcement agency, and uh that means uh just like our local law enforcement agencies, uh that they conduct themselves appropriately. Body cameras, um what of warrants, um no masks unless it's, you know, undercover operations. I mean, these are these are reasonable things that we have asked for and time and time again our Republican colleagues have said have said no. Uh, they've used ICE and CBP funding uh, to brutalize communities.

[00:19:29]They've killed US citizens. They've detained US citizens. Uh, that's exactly what they're doing with tax dollars. And the Republicans answer this week they're going to give them 70 billion more dollars. We found that unacceptable. If they want to meet and talk, um, committees of jurisdiction uh, can have discussions, members can have discussions, um, but we do not believe that ICE and CBP are worthy of additional funds until they get reformed. That's been our position.

[00:19:58]Yes. Last one? Uh, Congressman Brian Mast just said he's going to introduce a measure to get rid of this slush fund, the 1.8 billion dollars.

[00:20:07]Do you know anything about that? Have you spoken to him? This is going to be a tight vote.

[00:20:11]Do you have any updates on the absence of Representative Frederica Wilson?

[00:20:16]Uh, I don't have any uh, any comment um, or any anything new on uh, absences on on either side, whether it's Mr. Kean in in New Jersey. Um, uh, I've not talked with Frederica. I think the the whips office uh, handles um, you know, our members and has been pushing our members. Our expectation uh, for whether you're a ranking member of a of a committee or whether you're Democratic leadership uh, our position is that members show up and and vote. That's our that's our job. Our job is to be here and and to vote. Uh, I haven't had a conversation with uh, with Mr. Fitzpatrick. Um, I appreciate that members have comments about this and that they're speaking up about it.

[00:20:55]That's great. I know Leader Thune said the same thing. It doesn't matter unless they actually use their vote to to to get rid of it. To get it out of a package if it's a ballroom uh, or to provide accountability and oversight, or to put actual language in these bills that prohibits the administration from you doing this fund.

[00:21:15]It doesn't matter. All everything else is just happy talk and press releases.

[00:21:19]Unless he says, "You cannot have my vote unless you fix this." It doesn't mean a damn thing.

[00:21:25]Thank you.