Chairman Aguilar: The Trump administration is asking for $200 billion to fund this war, but won't spend a dime to bring down costs for health care here at home.

Chairman Aguilar: The Trump administration is asking for $200 billion to fund this war, but won't spend a dime to bring down costs for health care here at home.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar held a press conference condemning the Trump Administration's spending on the war with Iran while refusing to fund health care and calling on Trump and Republicans to work with Democrats to fund key components of DHS and put an end to the chaos. You can watch the full press conference here and read the transcript below.

CHAIRMAN AGUILAR: Good morning. We're just three months into 2026, and Donald Trump has wreaked havoc on America and abroad. Our country is deep in yet another endless Middle East war. Gas prices are skyrocketing. TSA agents aren't getting paid. American travelers are waiting in record-breaking lines. ICE is brutalizing our communities. And hardworking families are being forced to make difficult financial decisions on whether they pay for groceries, gas or medications. Now, the Trump administration is reportedly asking for $200 billion in order to fund this war, but he won't spend a dime to bring down costs for health care here at home. The American people want health care, not warfare. They elected Donald Trump because they truly believed he would keep his promise to lower their costs on day one, end all wars and make our communities safe. Instead, he has been actively driving up costs at the pump and grocery store and unleashed out-of-control ICE agents across the country to terrorize immigrants, detain children and kill U.S. citizens. And the worst part is that it doesn't have to be this way.

Democrats have put forward a proposal that would fund key components of the Department of Homeland Security, including TSA, Coast Guard and FEMA, while we negotiate commonsense reforms to ICE. But instead, Donald Trump doubled down on his harmful agenda and said he will only support ending a shutdown and paying our TSA workers if his partisan voter suppression bill is passed. The American people are worse off under Donald Trump, and they are fed up. In Congress, we are the people's representatives, and it's time for Republicans to start acting like it. We only need four House Republicans to join us to force a vote to fund Homeland Security and put an end to the chaos. The American people will be watching.

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