'Radical To Its Rotten Core': Chuck Schumer Tears Into Trump's 'Skinny Budget'

Forbes Breaking News

During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about President Trump's 'skinny budget' for FY26.

Transcript

00:00A few months into Donald Trump's second term, Americans are getting a clear look about what

00:04Trump 2.0 is all about.

00:07Last week, Americans got a good look at Trump 2.0 when the White House released its so-called

00:14skinny budget.

00:16Trump's days of pretending to be a populist are over.

00:21His budget is an all-out assault on health care, education, public safety, programs that

00:26help small businesses.

00:28They want to axe domestic programs that help tens of millions of people, hundreds of millions

00:33really, by nearly a quarter.

00:37It's radical to its rotten core.

00:39The budget is proof positive that the emperor has no clothes.

00:43Donald Trump is a con man who does not care one iota about the struggle of everyday Americans.

00:49He'd rather listen to his billionaire buddies than to the American people in terms of what

00:54the country needs.

00:56But few things crystallize Trump's 2.0 as much as Republicans' signature bill, a massive

01:03tax break for billionaires financed by the biggest cuts to Medicaid ever.

01:09For months, Republicans have tried to muddle their way forward on their agenda with magic

01:14talk totally severed from reality.

01:17Republicans say they want trillions in tax giveaways for the wealthy, trillions in spending

01:21cuts, but somehow claim these drastic changes won't hurt average Americans.

01:26Cut Medicaid, they say, but nobody will lose benefits.

01:29That is totally illogical.

01:32Even the worst studies that I have seen show that the percentage of, quote, waste, fraud,

01:37and abuse is much, much less than the $880 billion they say they're going to cut.

01:44They really want to slash Medicaid to the bone.

01:47Waste is something of a pretext for them.

01:51I don't know.

01:52Reality is now coming back to bite our Republican colleagues.

01:56In the House, Republicans are at total loggerheads about how to move forward.

02:01Never mind you, now mind you, there is zero disagreement around Republicans when it comes

02:06to the big goal, massive tax giveaways for the wealthy.

02:11They agree on axing popular programs like Medicaid, like Social Security, like veterans.

02:16What Republicans disagree on is simply the method for screwing Americans over, which is the better

02:23way to screw Americans over.

02:25That's what they disagree on.

02:26That's what they're fighting about, but not on the goals which are pernicious.

02:30Why do Republicans face such a conundrum where they are so at odds with one another?

02:38Simple answer?

02:39Because their agenda is so unpopular with the American people, and neither House and no Republican

02:45Senator wants to be left holding this hot potato.

02:49The backlash Republicans are getting from the public, whether it's at town halls or in

02:53the streets or through dismal polling data, should serve as a warning to our colleagues

02:58on the other side.

02:59If they proceed with their agenda, the political outcry will be enormous.

03:05And the idea that some of the Republicans are saying, well, we're going to our leadership

03:08to make a request.

03:10If that request is not granted, if Medicaid is still slashed, for instance, it's how they

03:15vote that is going to matter, what they put into effect.

03:19Not going to constituents say, oh, I agree with you.

03:22I'll go to my leadership.

03:24But when the leadership says no, are they going to vote against the bill?

03:28We'll see.

03:29I doubt it.

03:30I very much doubt it.

03:32It will not.

03:33Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

03:35And they, each Republican who votes for reconciliation and bad budgets, will be left holding that

03:42hot potato.

Category

Transcript

Recommended