In a statement issued Thursday, June 12, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) condemned the Trump administration’s recissions package that requests Congress to cancel $9.4 billion already appropriated by Congress.

Kelly issued a statement Wednesday, June 11, criticizing the Trump administration’s unlawful use of ICE agents in Chicago and the deployment of California National Guard and Marine units in Los Angeles.

Kelly represents Homewood and Flossmoor in Congress.

During consideration of the recission legislation, Kelly offered a Motion to Recommit, which would have allowed her amendment to protect the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) from the $400 million cuts in the recissions package. PEPFAR is the most successful global health program to combat HIV and AIDS and has saved 26 million lives since 2003 when President George W. Bush signed it into law, she said.

“President Trump wants to claw back $9.4 billion dollars that were already appropriated by Congress. For years, my Republican colleagues have claimed Congress’s constitutional power of the purse – but after one call from the President, they bend the knee and forked over $9.4 billion that belonged to the American people,” Kelly said. “President Trump continues his attack against PEPFAR, a program cornerstone to global health and US diplomacy. By refusing to fund PEPFAR, President Trump and his House Republicans have handed a death sentence to people around the world facing HIV and AIDS. 

“He also weakens America’s global standing, abandons our moral responsibility, and opens an opportunity for China to take advantage. Rescinding these funds won’t solve our country’s deficit problem but rather destroy lives in the US and abroad.”

The recissions package also cuts $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including NPR and PBS programming like Sesame Street.

The legislation passed by a mostly party-line vote, 214 to 212, according to an NPR report.

Kelly’s statement Wednesday following peaceful protests in Chicago against the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) urged the administration to stop escalating the conflict over ICE tactics.

“Yesterday, thousands of people exercised their constitutional right to peacefully assemble in Chicago to defend their immigrant neighbors. Unlawful detentions and arrests by ICE in the city have caused fear, chaos and untold grief in immigrant communities. The separation of families and random deportation quotas are cruel. I will continue to defend the human dignity of those who choose to call Illinois their home and the civil rights of protestors.

“As protests in Chicago continue to remain peaceful, I warn against any similar actions taken by President Trump in Los Angeles. He deployed the Marines and National Guard in Los Angeles, calling protestors ‘violent, insurrectionist mobs.’  

“Where was the National Guard when MAGA extremists stormed the Capitol? I still remember crawling on my hands and knees in the House gallery with my colleagues as we escaped on Jan. 6 (2021) – that was a violent insurrection. President Trump needs to stop escalating the situation in Los Angeles and pull out the Marines and National Guard. These abuses of power against our democracy would not be welcomed in Chicago.”