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Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Democrat, sparked a firestorm during Tuesday’s House Rules Committee hearing on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, accusing pro-life Republicans of caring only about children during infancy.
Frost, who represents Orlando and is the first Gen Z member of Congress, was seated as a witness in the hearing when he described how gun violence shaped his decision to seek public office and made the remark that sparked the uproar.
The situation heated up after ranking member James McGovern, D-Mass., said it “blows my mind there’s more passion and energy” in Congress for Second Amendment advocacy than healthcare access for cancer patients, an apparent reference to Medicaid-centric debate on the budget bill.
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“That tells you all you need to know about the difference between Republicans and Democrats on this,” McGovern said, yielding to Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M.
Leger Fernandez said Democrats have been the party of pursuing their “convictions,” citing former Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama knowing he’d be beaten by police for protesting in support of civil rights before ceding the floor to Frost.
Frost said he got involved in politics at age 15 after the Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut and was one mile from the Pulse Nightclub when 49 people were murdered there.
“[Shooter Omar Mateen] didn’t like them because they were gay and Latino. Three months later, I survived an instance of gun violence in Downtown Orlando.”
Frost, a progressive who, while not a member of “The Squad,” has said he has “plenty of love and admiration” for the group, went on to claim gun rights groups want to lobby Congress to pass amendments to “sell more guns” even if “more people [are] dying.”
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He claimed former President Joe Biden worked to reduce gun violence and contrasted that with his pointed allegation of Republicans.
“They say they’re pro-life because they want the baby to be born, go to school and get shot in the school. Die in the schools, die on the streets,” he said, before being cut off by an enraged Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.
Foxx began slamming her gavel and reprimanding Frost, though her initial comments could not be discerned because her microphone was not on.
“You’ve gone over the cliff. We are all going to be quiet now,” she commanded.
“I meant every word,” Frost retorted.
Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., made a motion to strike Frost’s words after Foxx suggested she wanted the same.
But Scott soon relented when Foxx said it “might be better to leave them on” the record for the public to view.
“You are not going to come into this room and impugn our integrity. You will not. We are pro-life people from conception to natural death; most of us are.
“Don’t you come in here and say we want to preserve life so people can get shot,” the Smoky Mountains congresswoman added.
Foxx adjourned the hearing shortly after Leger Fernández used up her remaining time, but the fireworks weren’t over just yet.
As lawmakers and witnesses stood up, Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., called out, “I might remind my Democrat colleagues of Proverbs 13:5,” prompting a raised murmur on the left side of the dais.
“You can add [Proverbs] 14:5 to that too,” Clyde added after Rep. Deborah Wasserman-Schultz, D-Fla., reprimanded Scott for using the term “Democrat Party” instead of “Democratic Party.”
The shorter name largely originated as a pejorative from former Rep. Joe McCarthy, R-Wis., during his investigations into the creeping of communism into American society and institutions.
The term “Democrat Party” was preferred to “Democratic” by former radio icon Rush Limbaugh and occasionally President Donald Trump.
Proverbs 13:5 says, “The righteous hates falsehood, but the wicked brings shame and disgrace.”
Clyde’s second referenced Bible passage said, “A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies.”
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