At a House Rules Committee meeting, Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-MA) criticized the Republican majority’s legislative agenda and addressed concerns about the United States’ international standing under President Donald Trump. In his remarks, McGovern said, “On today’s Republican agenda: control women, reward special interests, and prioritize the powerful while doing nothing to help regular people.”
McGovern pointed to two bills scheduled for discussion. He argued that H.R. 6359 would require colleges to promote anti-abortion messages to pregnant students and that H.R. 6945 would divert funds from low-income families to “crisis pregnancy centers,” which he described as organizations advancing a political agenda rather than providing medical care.
He shared an example from his district in Worcester where a woman reportedly received incorrect medical advice at such a center, resulting in serious health consequences. McGovern stated, “She was told her pregnancy was healthy after an ultrasound. And a month later, she needed emergency surgery because the pregnancy was not healthy; it was ectopic. And as a result of the bad medical advice that Republicans are funding today, she suffered permanent, irreversible consequences.”
McGovern called for policies he said would better support families: expanding childcare access, lowering prescription drug costs, protecting Medicaid, raising wages, investing in SNAP benefits, and increasing affordable housing options.
He also raised concerns about another bill aimed at reducing environmental protections in northern Minnesota. According to McGovern, this measure would benefit mining companies at the expense of public lands and clean water.
Addressing foreign policy developments, McGovern referenced recent communications by President Trump regarding Greenland and NATO allies. He read aloud from what he described as a letter from Trump to Norway’s Prime Minister: “Dear Jonas, Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace.” The letter continued: “Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway?” It concluded with: “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT.”
McGovern warned that these statements had prompted Denmark to send troops to Greenland out of concern over possible U.S. military action and noted that Canada had indicated any such invasion could trigger NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause.
He expressed alarm over escalating rhetoric between the U.S. administration and its allies: “Trump is ramping up his rhetoric. He’s trying to bully and blackmail our closest allies—raising tariffs and trying to blackmail them into letting the United States annex a sovereign nation that does not want to be part of the United States.”
McGovern marked one year since President Trump took office with unified Republican control of Congress and questioned whether Americans were better off than before: “Are Americans better off than they were a year ago?”
He cited ongoing issues such as high supermarket bills, unaffordable rent, energy costs exacerbated by tariffs, restrictions on women’s health care choices, environmental rollbacks benefiting corporations, loss of health coverage for millions due to policy changes or lack of action by Congress on key social programs like Medicaid or SNAP benefits (food assistance), stagnant wages relative to inflation rates across many sectors despite increased productivity among workers nationwide—and contrasted these trends with growing wealth among billionaires.
According to McGovern: “We all saw it from day one—the Big Tech CEOs lined up behind Trump at the swearing-in like it was a shareholders’ meeting…Trump and his family have made nearly $4 billion while working people are putting food back on the shelf because they can’t afford it.”
He also highlighted new funding allocations: “The Big Ugly Bill also gave $75 billion in new funding to ICE. That’s where your healthcare money went America; ICE is using it to sow fear and chaos in our communities.”
Concluding his remarks on Republican leadership over the past year McGovern stated: “Republicans have been in charge for a year. Prices are up consumer confidence is down our allies don’t trust us our adversaries are laughing at us—and our country is more divided than ever before…this Republican Congress has not only failed to meet the moment—it has been a complete total embarrassing failure on all counts.”
