Transcription
Now, 5 minutes to the gentle lady from Michigan, Lisa Mlan. I see a trend going here. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Um, I think it's interesting that you have all the Republicans asking questions right now. So, I, I appreciate this hearing. Um, Mr. Chairman, clearly we care. Um, and I know you do. I know we've talked about the numbers, but I think it bears repeating. The federal government spent over $66 billion on illegal immigrants in 2023, according to the Federation for American Immigration. Does anyone here want to guess how much we've spent on homeless veterans in '23? Yes? High? Well, let's just start higher, lower, the same? Anybody want to guess? Fractional? Fractional? Thank you. Three. Three billion. 66 on illegals, three billion on people who have laid down their lives for this country. Can anyone explain up there why that makes sense?
Well, one is including all sorts of benefits, and one is just looking at a very, very narrow size. No, I'm using the same numbers. I'm, sir, sir, you are. I am using very different, uh, I'm using apples to apples. So since you know, why don't you share with me? We don't track. You, we don't track US veterans in the census. So that, that would be very helpful if we did. Then I would be able to do, you know, the answer because I do. I do. So I appreciate your opinion of which you have no facts on. But let me continue and let me educate you some more. The federal government, breaking that $66 billion down, let's look at what we fund. So you might want to get a pencil and paper and take some notes because I'll help you do your job. $5.8 billion in SNAP, $10 billion in Medicare, $8.2 billion in uncompensated hospital expenditures, $3 billion for primary and secondary education for illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants, excuse me. And how many illegal immigrants are given taxpayer-funded housing compared to the number of homeless veterans that are sleeping on the street? You don't know because you don't want to know. You don't want to see the numbers. Well, different. I do, and I can share with you. The American people do because I'll share with you the people in my district, in Michigan, of the 9th District. We care about our homeless veterans. We care about our veterans, and yes, we care about them a little bit more than we care about people who have broken the law to get here illegally. So I actually have some suggestions and maybe some answers on how to fix it. Instead of $66 billion, here are a couple things we could spend. The White House has requested $13 million for the National Call Center for homeless veterans. I'm going to say it again, $13 million with an M. Right? Maybe we could find that out of that $66 billion, right? Different between million and billion, big difference. Um, we could funnel some more of that $66 billion to our homeless veterans. Anyone opposed to that? Why aren't we doing it? Why aren't we doing it? Anybody got an idea? Anybody got an idea why we're not? God bless you. Why we're not doing it? I'll tell you why we're not doing it because the Biden administration does not want to do it. Am I correct? Am I incorrect on that? I didn't think so. This year's budget request from the White House asks for $17.2 billion in mental health spending for veterans. That $10 billion we lose to Medicare spending would surely benefit to struggle with the mental health issues. So why don't we do this? America is a very charitable country. Why don't we take care of our own first? Anyone see a problem with that? Why don't we? I'll tell you why we don't because the Biden administration doesn't want to do that. It's, it's, it's maddening to me. The White House budget requested for caregiver support programs, not $2.9 billion. Maybe instead of $3 billion for educating illegal immigrants, we can give more funding to caregiver support programs, right? We're all talking about both sides of the aisle, which ironically doesn't even want to participate in this hearing, sadly, um, but not unexpected. We all talk about caregiving is a problem, right? I hear that on both sides of the aisle. What would happen if we took that $3 billion and gave it to caregivers that live in the United States? Anyone have a problem with that? Why don't we do it? Anybody? The Biden administration doesn't want to do it. And you play games with your facts, and you, you play this shell game. Well, I'm going to share with you, the American people are not fooled, and they are frustrated and fed up with it. Let's just be honest about where this money is going so we possibly can redirect it to the correct place. Let's start with our veterans. Thank you. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. I think the.