00:24It's one of perseverance, where anyone, regardless of their background or circumstances, can achieve success and upward mobility through hard work and determination.
00:38It means a job that pays a fair wage, a school that prepares our kids for a better life, a doctor who sees you when you're sick, and a roof over your head at night.
00:50We are now in the midst of debating, soon, a reconciliation bill.
00:56For those not familiar with the term, it is basically a special budget bill.
01:03If you consider this a legislative organization or body, and I do, if we were accused of legislating this year, I'm afraid there's not enough evidence to convict us.
01:18We've been in session now for five months.
01:22We've passed five bills.
01:25One a month.
01:27If we were being paid for peace work, we would have been left behind for the last five months.
01:34But now comes this reconciliation bill and tries to do everything it wants.
01:39It's starting over in the House of Representatives.
01:43Assuming it passes there, it will come over here.
01:45What does it do, this reconciliation bill, this spending bill, budget-cutting bill?
01:53It dismantles the American dream.
01:56It strips our institutions of essential services that help the most vulnerable people in our country.
02:02All so that the ultimate goal can be served.
02:06And what is that goal?
02:08To give larger tax breaks to wealthy people.
02:11If you don't have time to read more than 1,000 pages of these cuts in this reconciliation bill, let me give you a shortened version.
02:23It isn't pretty.
02:26Billionaires will win.
02:28American families will lose.
02:30President Trump asked Republicans in Congress to provide a massive giveaway to the richest Americans.
02:37And they want to use programs like Medicaid cuts, food and nutrition programs, and medical research funding as a piggy bank for these tax cuts for wealthy people.
02:50Let's take Medicaid, for example.
02:53Medicaid insures one in four people in my home state of Illinois.
02:57One out of four.
02:583.4 million people on Medicaid, including 1.5 million children.
03:06How important is it?
03:08Medicaid as a program, an insurance program, covers nearly half of all births in our state.
03:17Two-thirds of nursing home residents receive Medicaid assistance.
03:21That's your mom, your dad, your grandparents.
03:24And the majority of patients with mental health counseling count on Medicaid.
03:31The majority of the money for mental health counseling comes from that program.
03:35It's a lifeline for children's hospitals.
03:38It's a lifeline for rural hospitals.
03:42Knowing how unpopular it is to deprive America of health care, for months the Republicans have said,
03:48Democrats have got it all wrong.
03:50We're not cutting Medicaid benefits.
03:52We're simply focusing on waste, fraud, and abuse.
03:57Now, if there's a program that's wasteful or fraudulent, put me in line to do something about it.
04:05I don't want to say any taxpayers' money wasted.
04:09But that's not what's happening here.
04:12And I'm afraid my colleagues on the other side of the aisle know it.
04:14With their plans, Republicans are taking a chainsaw to our health care system and ripping health insurance away.
04:24At the end of the day, their reconciliation proposal will remove Medicaid insurance for 14 million Americans.
04:32Mr. President, if you've ever lived in a circumstance where you had no health insurance, it's a sobering, unforgettable experience.
04:43I've been there.
04:45A sick child and no health insurance.
04:47It's something you'll never forget.
04:49The reconciliation plan of the Republicans buries eligible patients in complex paperwork requirements that'll wrap them in so much red tape they'll never get the care they need.
05:14Just think if you have an illness in the family, a serious illness, and you have to go through a high-stakes government red tape gauntlet, another government form, another telephone recording when you need a helping hand.
05:30And it decimates the funding system for Medicaid, which will force rural hospitals to cut services or close altogether.
05:38Three weeks ago, 20 hospital administrators from my state came.
05:42Most of them were from downstate, where I live, where I grew up.
05:47They told the story of what the reconciliation bill means to them.
05:52Cutting services in communities, closing down critical hospitals.
05:56Instead of 20 minutes for that pregnant woman with her first baby to get to the doctor, to get to the hospital, instead of 20 minutes, it'll be an hour and 20 minutes.
06:06Does it make a difference?
06:08How would you like to be driving the car under those circumstances?
06:11You'll never forget it.
06:12Republicans are also targeting food and nutrition programs, like SNAP.
06:1940 million Americans rely on these programs to provide food on the table, including nearly 2 million in Illinois.
06:27They are looking to cut food and nutrition benefits by as much as $290 billion, the largest cut to anti-hunger funding in our nation's history.
06:38I was home in Springfield over the weekend.
06:42My wife came back from the grocery store, and she said, I can't believe these prices.
06:48Prices are too high, and they keep going higher.
06:51And what do the Republicans want to do?
06:54Cut the benefits to pay for the food that people need to put on the table.
06:58It'll take food assistance away from 6 million Americans.
07:03And how much money do people receive?
07:06Well, it turns out the average SNAP recipient, the food and nutrition program at the federal level,
07:11the average recipient is paid $5 a day.
07:15Try to live on $5 a day and imagine what their life must be like.
07:22That's right.
07:24The Republican Reconciliation Bill will take food off the table of seniors and children so they can pay for these billionaire tax cuts.
07:33If that sounds like an exaggeration, it's not.
07:38As Republicans strip Americans of their health care and SNAP benefits, millionaires and billionaires will continue to see tax breaks coming their way.
07:48In their bill, Republicans give huge tax breaks to multi-billion dollar corporations.
07:54They exempt up to $28 million in taxes from estates where the wealthiest Americans pass on their wealth to their children.
08:01In the same breath, they failed to expand the child tax credit, which is one of the most effective tools to reduce poverty and put money back in the pockets of working families.
08:13Remember, it was Democrats who expanded the child tax credit in the American Rescue Plan, which led to a historic reduction in poverty in the U.S.
08:22Research showed that child poverty fell immediately and substantially to the lowest on record, 5.2%.
08:31So who needs a tax break?
08:33Working families are the wealthiest people in our country.
08:37For me, the answer is obvious.
08:39Republicans are also planning to eliminate the clean energy tax credit enacted in the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act,
08:48which would derail efforts to strengthen U.S. energy security and lower costs.
08:52This would hurt American families and small businesses by hitting them with higher energy bills and the loss of nearly 800,000 jobs over the next five years.
09:04Some states could see double-digit percentage increases in electricity bills, which means hundreds of dollars out of Americans' pockets each year.
09:11Just a few hours ago, the White House claimed that their reckless plan, quote, does not add to the deficit.
09:20Someone said that with a straight face.
09:22But in reality, it explodes the deficit under the guise of fiscal responsibility.
09:27The White House and Republican reconciliation plan would add $3.3 trillion to the nation's deficit over the next 10 years for tax breaks for wealthy people.
09:39President Trump's record-breaking deficit in his first term will reach new depths of debt to pay for billionaire tax cuts.
09:47Donald Trump is claiming that his sprawling trade war will somehow pay this bill.
09:53But no one buys that, and no one can even explain it the way he does.
09:58America's small businesses, workers, farmers, and families are hurting because of this administration's tariffs.
10:04While the president continues to weaken America's credibility and alienate us from our biggest trading partners.
10:11If all of this wasn't bad enough, Republican Speaker Johnson cut a deal with members of the House Freedom Caucus over the weekend in order to move this bill.
10:22It is reported that they discussed accelerating the plan to condition Medicaid health coverage on red tape requirements.
10:29These were originally set for 2029.
10:31They now want to end people's insurance as soon as possible, maybe by the end of this year.
10:38As well as quicker phase-out of clean energy tax credits that were put into law as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
10:46That's right.
10:47The package isn't bad enough for conservative Republicans to support.
10:51So they're considering making it even worse for American families.
10:54Americans of all political affiliations rely on critical services that Republicans plan to cut, not just Democrats.
11:03Slashing life-saving health care, cutting food and nutrition benefits for mothers trying to feed their families, will hurt Americans in blue and red states.
11:13I've heard my colleagues give speeches about tough choices.
11:18Well, let me tell you.
11:19Choosing to line the pockets of people like Elon Musk while cutting life-saving medical research isn't tough.
11:26It's shameful.
11:28American families aren't asking for special treatment.
11:31They're asking for a fair shot at the American dream.
11:34They're asking us to remember this country works best when we invest in its people.
11:38We need four Republicans with a good sense to join Democrats and say no to this disaster.
