War & Peace Quote by Corrine Brown

“Tooth and nail” is doing a lot of work here: it’s the language of bare-knuckle conflict dropped into the procedural world of budgets and committees. Corrine Brown isn’t just promising support; she’s signaling that the fight is the point, because the opposition is assumed and the stakes are personal for the communities she represents.

The first move is credentialing. “As a Member of the CBC” (the Congressional Black Caucus) is less biography than coalition politics: a shorthand for legitimacy on civil rights, health equity, and the long memory of federal neglect. She’s speaking to two audiences at once. To constituents and advocates, it reads as reassurance that someone inside the institution is willing to treat public health funding as moral urgency, not discretionary spending. To colleagues and leadership, it’s a reminder that the CBC can mobilize votes, media pressure, and leverage in negotiations.

Then comes the subtle indictment: “flat funded.” That bureaucratic euphemism is a polite way to say “cut,” especially in health programs where inflation and rising need turn stagnant dollars into shrinking capacity. Invoking Ryan White, the landmark HIV/AIDS program built to serve low-income patients, ties her stance to a specific history: HIV policy as a test of whether government will fund care for stigmatized people without making them beg for sympathy.

The intent is pragmatic and performative. Budget season rewards public lines in the sand; this one positions Brown as an advocate ready to convert moral clarity into legislative bargaining power.