Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered opening remarks during a hearing on the proposed budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2025.

Padilla outlined the misguided budget proposal from Republicans to cut hundreds of billions of dollars in benefits Americans rely on to fund tax breaks for billionaires:

• “The second Trump Administration has begun clearly laying the groundwork to cut crucial programs that American families rely on in order to fund yet another round of tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy. … The budget is a reflection of our values and our priorities. And I want to talk about priorities. Not the President’s priorities. I want to talk about the American people’s priorities. I’ve heard over and over again that the outcome of last fall’s election was a mandate, and that the important takeaway from the election was Americans’ frustrations with a high cost of living. … Too many families, Republicans and Democrats, struggling to pay for groceries, to afford gas, struggling to pay the rent or the mortgage every month.”

• “Folks, make no mistake, under these plans, life will be more expensive for working families and all for what? That’s really the big question I have. All for what? It’s crystal clear: to help pay for hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks for billionaires and large corporations. And to achieve this, President Trump and his allies here in Congress seem determined to slash the programs that American families depend on the most: Medicaid, nutrition assistance programs, Pell grants, affordable health care coverage, cancer research, investments in our energy sector, including for hydrogen, biofuels, and carbon capture.”

Padilla also highlighted the immense costs of mass deportations, and the essential contributions of immigrants to the U.S. economy. Undocumented workers make up nearly 14 percent of construction workers — and roughly 42 percent of our agricultural workforce. Trump’s mass deportations plan would lead to skyrocketing prices for food, goods, and services, exacerbate our workforce shortages, and could drop the United States’ GDP by 6.8 percent:

• “Here’s an inconvenient truth for many, and that’s the fact that immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are also critical to the success of our economy, because the percentage of immigrants — documented, undocumented — who are violent criminals, is a very, very small percentage.”

• “If President Trump gets his way with the mass deportations that are not focused just on violent criminals, here’s what American families can expect. Get ready also for more expensive fruit, more expensive vegetables, and that’s if grocery stores can successfully keep up with stocking the shelves. If you’ve been saving up for years to buy a home, get ready to pay more and wait longer. Why? Because construction will slow down, and prices will go up.”

As Republicans emphasize the need for American energy independence, Padilla stressed that the Trump Administration’s executive orders and the proposed budget resolution would undo the historic investments Congress made to diversify the energy sector:

• “Undermining renewables isn’t just undermining energy independence. It’s a threat to our national security, and it’s a threat to the good-paying jobs we’ve created across the country in red states and blue states alike.”

Video of Senator Padilla’s full remarks is available here.

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