Pallone: Republicans Are Selling Out Rural Americans

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) delivered the following remarks on the House floor today on H.Res. 1182: 

Prices are soaring for the American people, Trump’s reckless war of choice continues in Iran, and Republicans are spending valuable time here on the House floor bringing up an undeserved resolution to pat themselves on the back and to pretend that they have supported rural communities.

Trump and Republicans promised they would lower costs on day one, but Americans are over $5,000 poorer today because of their policies.  

And yet, rather than doing something to actually address the affordability crisis that they are worsening, House Republicans are bringing up a resolution that does nothing. It is not going to make life better for one American living in rural America. Instead, it is a pathetic attempt for Republicans to show they care about rural America when their actions show the exact opposite.   

Thanks to Trump’s reckless war of choice in Iran, diesel prices are now over $5 per gallon, drastically increasing costs for farmers across the country. The war has also caused fertilizer prices to skyrocket, leaving 70 percent of American farmers unable to pay for all their fertilizer needs.  

Republicans promised to bring a bill to the floor that would allow a higher blend of ethanol in gasoline – known as E15 – to be sold year-round, but they haven’t. Year-round E15 would greatly benefit corn farmers in rural America while also saving drivers money. Republicans have also done nothing to address the massive amounts of energy being consumed by data centers – that are rapidly expanding in rural areas – driving up energy costs.  

Turning to health, Republicans have created a health care affordability crisis that is disproportionately impacting rural Americans.  

Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill cut Americans’ health care by more than $1 trillion – the largest cut in our nation’s history – which will result in 15 million people losing their health coverage. These deep cuts are hurting rural Americans the most. Rural clinics are already being forced to close their doors. Hospitals in rural communities are shutting down maternity care units and laying off health care workers. Another 300 rural hospitals are likely to shutter—closing down altogether or reducing services. This is driving massive increases in uncompensated care.  

The Big Ugly Bill made unprecedented cuts to federal Medicaid spending. This will have a disproportionate impact on children and disabled people in rural areas who are more likely to rely on Medicaid. Republicans will claim that a temporary $50 billion slush fund, representing just five percent of the $1 trillion cut to health care, will somehow overcome the long-term suffering of rural providers and communities that rely heavily on Medicaid. This is false. The slush fund is temporary while the cuts are permanent, and it can be used for an array of purposes other than payments to struggling rural health providers. The $1 trillion in health care cuts will compound over time, devastating the health care safety net in rural communities far into the future. 

Republicans have also refused to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits, driving up health care premiums for rural Americans. Rural residents’ premiums are increasing by an astonishing 107 percent, and rural Americans are facing thousands of dollars in additional out-of-pocket costs. 

As rural Americans lose their health care coverage and watch the doctor’s offices and hospitals in their communities shut down critical services, Congressional Republicans are doing absolutely nothing to fix the problem they created.

And despite the false words in this resolution, House Republicans have done nothing meaningful to expand internet access for rural America. In the last 15 months, Republicans rescinded billions of dollars from public broadcasting stations that serve rural areas with programming and emergency alerts, withheld broadband investments from rural and Tribal communities, and sabotaged the BEAD Program with inferior broadband technologies to “save” money. Top it all off with the fact that House Republicans cheered as the Trump Administration tore Wi-Fi out of rural school buses, and it’s clear that rural Americans are NOT being served by Republicans—they’re being ripped off.

This resolution also pats Republicans on the back for supposedly bolstering manufacturing capacity in rural communities. But the reality is that Republican policies are harming the manufacturing sector. Manufacturers are reeling from the uncertainty of Trump’s chaotic tariff strategy. These tariffs have raised costs for manufacturers and could reduce manufacturing investments in the United States by $490 billion in the next five years.  

If Republicans really wanted to show rural Americans that they care about them, they would roll up their sleeves and actually put together bills – not meaningless resolutions – that would actually make a difference. This Republican majority is simply not capable of that.  

I urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.  

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