Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi’s Opening Remarks at Subcommittee Hearing on Republican Attacks on Civil Rights, Freedom, Progress, and Equality
Washington, D.C. (June 25, 2025)—Below is Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi’s opening statement, as prepared for delivery, at today’s Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services hearing on Republicans’ efforts to politicize diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to bolster the Trump Administration’s extremist right-wing agenda.
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Opening Statement
Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi
Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services
“Sacrificing Excellence for Ideology: The Real Cost of DEI”
June 25, 2025
Mr. Chairman, thank you for convening this hearing.
Despite this being the Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee of the Oversight Committee, I’m disappointed that the words “health,” “care,” “financial,” “services,” and “oversight” do not appear anywhere in today’s hearing topic.
Rather than conducting real oversight into the damage being done to our nation’s health care systems, this Subcommittee is once again failing to meet the moment.
I can understand the Majority’s desire to change the subject. If I had to defend the Big Beautiful Bill, or what I like to call the Large Lousy Law, I’d be looking for a distraction as well.
It’s easier to deflect than to face the truth: this Large Lousy Law is cutting at least $625 billion from Medicaid, leaving millions without access to health care.
It’s taking food from children through cuts to SNAP.
It’s forcing thousands of veterans out of their homes by slashing affordable housing assistance.
And not to mention this bill adds so much to our nation’s debt that CBO says the bill may trigger $500 billion in automatic cuts to Medicare.
It’s no surprise that, with the Senate Republicans making even deeper cuts to Medicaid in the Large Lousy Law, this Subcommittee is trying even harder to change the subject: holding a hearing not about health care, but about how great it is to pit Americans against each other and go after the concept of diversity.
The Majority believes diversity is a barrier to excellence, but I believe that it’s, in fact, the key to achieving excellence in America.
Diversity means lowering the barriers so everyone can compete. When we have competition, America benefits. Competition means a more talented workforce for employers, it means more opportunities for small businesses, it means higher quality products and services, and ultimately, it means lower prices.
From consumers to taxpayers to employers, everyone wins when we expand opportunity and lower barriers to competition.
This isn’t theory, it’s proven. Studies from across the political spectrum back it up. Indeed.com, the nation’s largest online recruiter, found that diverse teams make faster, better decisions.
McKinsey reported that companies with more women in leadership are significantly more likely to outperform companies with fewer women.
Forbes found that diverse workplaces are essential to retaining top talent.
Diversity means not giving someone an unfair head start and making sure the race is not rigged.
When I first ran for office in IL, I said my name was “Raja Krishnamoorthi” and instead was called “Roger Christan Murphy.” A T-shirt with that name is now hanging in my office. Yes, it’s funny, but it is also a pointed reminder that the whole point of diversity is that Raja Krishnamoorthi doesn’t have to pretend to be Roger Christian Murphy just to get ahead.
Real competition and true opportunity drive economic success.
That’s why it is no accident that Illinois is one of just thirteen states that sends more tax dollars to Washington than it gets back. Illinois leads because it fosters diverse talent and invests in having the broadest opportunities for everyone.
Those investments mean that Illinois ranks near the top nationally in economic performance, education, and quality of life. Illinois is an engine of the American economy, and diversity is one of our drivers.
There is no reverse gear for prosperity, and I will not go back to the days when the American Dream was reserved for merely the privileged few.
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