Chuck Schumer Shreds GOP's 'Big Beautiful Bill', Says Dems Will Oppose 'Morally Bankrupt' Budget

Forbes Breaking News

During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) criticized the Republicans' budget that narrowly passed the House early Thursday morning.

Transcript

00:00In reconciliation, a few hours ago, while most Americans were fast asleep,

00:05House Republicans rammed through their so-called big, beautiful bill

00:09through the House of Representatives.

00:12In the dead of night, in the hopes that nobody would notice,

00:16House Republicans took a bill that was already rotten to the core

00:20and made it even worse, to appease the most radical factions of their party.

00:27It will bring deeper, harder, and even faster pain to the American people.

00:34It seems the heart right over there wanted even quicker pain.

00:38It's truly jarring to watch House Republicans cheer and pat each other on the back

00:44while bond markets spiral and working families are left to worry about how they'll make ends meet.

00:52So, this morning, let's take a look at a few ways this bill has gotten even worse

00:58as it has reached final passage.

01:02We will surely learn more in the coming days,

01:05but let me share a few changes Republicans made that Americans deserve to hear.

01:11First, this bill was already the largest cut in Medicaid in American history,

01:16but now these cuts have been rushed forward and will happen as soon as next year.

01:24Moving up the timeline now means that hospitals, particularly rural hospitals,

01:29have even less time to prepare and increases the chance that they will close

01:35and that hundreds in each county will lose their jobs.

01:41Up to 14 million Americans are in danger of losing their health insurance.

01:46This bill will shut down rural hospitals, community health centers, urgent care clinics, and more.

01:52But while hospital beds are closing,

01:55Republicans are prioritizing a repeal on tanning bed taxes.

01:58And, of course, at the last minute, the anti-choice radicals snuck in a new provision,

02:04penalizing enrollees in private plans on the ACA exchanges covering reproductive care.

02:11Defunding Planned Parenthood wasn't enough.

02:14The radicals got their pitchforks and added a provision to effectively ban

02:18every insurance premium on every ACA exchange for covering abortion.

02:24This is catastrophic.

02:26It even increases the anti-choice provisions in the bill by a dramatic amount.

02:34It will mean that nearly one in seven Americans

02:36who have been insured through ACA since 2014 will be subject to this change.

02:42And while our communities get sicker, our kids get hungrier.

02:48Republicans weren't satisfied with simply making 4 million kids go hungry.

02:53They decided they needed to move up the timeline

02:55Cuts to snap will take effect as soon as next year.

02:59That makes it even harder for food pantries to adapt.

03:03More chaos, more hunger, and more closures

03:06among our food pantries and kitchens that serve the hungry.

03:12Widespread hunger is now on a fast track.

03:16Republicans seem to be saying

03:17that the average person who needs food gets only $5 a day.

03:22A dozen eggs cost more than $5 a day.

03:26And that's the price Republicans accept so they can cut taxes on the wealthy.

03:32Republicans are stealing from hungry kids,

03:35stealing from low-income families to give trillions in tax giveaways to the wealthy.

03:39This is not beautiful.

03:41It's ugly. It's revolting.

03:43And as the bill proceeds, perhaps the most dramatic changes that occurred overnight

03:48is the surrender of America's clean energy future to China.

03:54Republicans are condemning Americans to higher energy costs

03:58and killing hundreds of thousands, even millions, of good-paying jobs.

04:04Last night, the Republicans did something else, too.

04:07They added a clean job kill switch.

04:11At the very last minute, Republicans added a provision that says

04:14any project that doesn't break ground within 60 days of this passage

04:18will lose the entire tax credit.

04:21That's getting rid of the tax credit.

04:23No project can start in 60 days.

04:26Please, that's not how it works.

04:28They know that.

04:30They know that the clean energy tax credits are popular.

04:33They know that the clean energy tax credits will reduce costs for American families.

04:39So instead of saying kill it outright, they say you must start within 60 days.

04:43That is saying kill it outright.

04:45Everyone knows that.

04:47And I saw that some of the hard-right people from the oil-patch states

04:50were gloating, gloating that clean energy is gone.

04:56It's one of the most devastating things added at the last minute in this bill,

05:00snuck in the dark of night.

05:01And we in the Senate, and I hope our Republican colleagues will join us in this,

05:05are going to fight this every step of the way.

05:09Much of the clean energy industry will be dead.

05:12As I said, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs will be lost.

05:15And China, 10 years from now, will be dictating what happens in our energy markets to our children.

05:25To make matters even worse, of course, the bill also raises taxes on some projects that are underway.

05:31Donald Trump says he wants America to dominate energy, and then he does this?

05:40Taxing energy projects, raising costs for families?

05:44Nope.

05:45Donald Trump, what you're doing is absolutely stupid and counterproductive.

05:49You don't even know what you're doing.

05:53You just think, oh, clean energy, let's get rid of it.

05:55We'll rely on oil, gas, and coal.

05:59Well, there ain't enough oil, gas, and coal to fuel the world,

06:02and it's more expensive to do it.

06:04Donald Trump, what the heck are you doing?

06:07This is an American energy kill switch.

06:13Jobs vanish in solar.

06:16Jobs vanish in wind.

06:17Manufacturing jobs go to China.

06:19Just the opposite of what the president says he wants.

06:22And people's electric bills go up.

06:25So, America, when your electric bill starts going up,

06:28talk to Donald Trump.

06:29Talk to the Republicans in the House.

06:31And please, talk to Republicans in the Senate

06:35and tell them not to move forward on this folly.

06:41Republicans call their bill a tax break.

06:44But in reality, it's a tax hike, a job killer,

06:49except for China, where it's a job creator.

06:52China wins.

06:53America loses.

06:55In the coming days, Americans will take a look

06:58at Republicans' big, beautiful bill and discover

07:01it gets uglier and uglier the closer they look.

07:05The bill, hopefully, has a doomed future in the Senate.

07:10Senate Democrats will let hell freeze over

07:13and fight this in every way that we can.

07:18Donald Trump told House Republicans

07:20that voting no on his bill would be the ultimate betrayal.

07:23But the real betrayal this morning

07:25was Republicans voting yes,

07:28a betrayal of the American people.

07:30Because there's nothing beautiful

07:32about the biggest cuts to Medicaid

07:34in American history.

07:35Nothing beautiful about cutting snap benefits

07:38so children go hungry,

07:39can't learn or have productive lives.

07:42Nothing beautiful about

07:43cutting snap benefits

07:46by over $200 billion.

07:48Senate Democrats will oppose

07:50this morally bankrupt bill

07:52with every fiber in our being.

07:54Every fiber.

07:58.

08:00.

08:02.

08:07.

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