On the recordMarch 25, 2025
I thank the gentlewoman from New Hampshire (Ms. Goodlander) for her comments. Mr. Speaker, this corporate power we feel in so much of our economy is also what we feel corrupts this place, our Nation's Capital. We see it with the unlimited money that runs through our elections, unlimited super-PAC spending that corporations can dump in to buy the favors that they get from politicians. The people who we represent--Democrat, Republican, Independent, you name it--hate this corruption. They see it. They smell it. They know it is crooked. It is why you have pharmacy benefit managers extracting profits on the backs of people's medicine, killing pharmacies. It is why you can't even fix your own stuff and why we even have to fight for the right to repair. What can be more American than the idea that you can fix your own stuff, whether it is a tractor, a car, an ice cream machine, you name it? This right to repair goes to the heart of this. It is why you see housing costs out of control, with Wall Street buying up housing and then buying influence down here. It is also why you see the obscene practice of people getting rich in Congress, trading stock on information that they may learn in their job serving the people in Congress. It is corrupt. We ought to end it. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to a colleague of mine who gets this fight against corruption, who has organized workers, and who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Casar).





