'Rare That I Find Myself Agreeing With Elon Musk': Tammy Duckworth Issues Warning About Trump Budget

Forbes Breaking News

On "Forbes Newsroom," Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) explained why she will vote against President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," as well as what impact the legislation could have on Americans.

Transcript

00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me now

00:07is Senator Tammy Duckworth. Senator, thank you so much for joining me.

00:11Thanks for having me on.

00:13Last month, the House narrowly passed President Trump's big, beautiful bill,

00:18a massive piece of legislation that includes his signature tax and immigration policies.

00:22Now the Senate is taking it on. So I'm curious, what do you make of the budget package?

00:26Well, we're calling it the big ugly bill or the big beautiful betrayal because it just has such

00:34significant cuts to all sorts of programs that Americans rely on in order to fund tax cuts for

00:41billionaires. And it actually is going to add trillions of dollars to our budget deficit.

00:47And so I don't see where, you know, the only people that come out ahead in this are billionaires

00:52and veterans are going to lose. Families are going to lose. Educational institutions,

00:58medical hospitals are all going to lose under this bill.

01:01It seems like those are the biggest points of contention in the Senate when it comes to this

01:05bill. One is that according to the CBO, it could raise the deficit by $2.4 trillion. And then to

01:12those Medicaid cuts, where according to the CBO, again, millions could lose health insurance in

01:17the next decade. So what are your conversations with Republicans right now who aren't supportive of

01:21it and who have voiced their apprehension? Well, I start off with how many people in their states

01:26will lose health care coverage. It's estimated that 14 million Americans, including children and

01:31seniors, will lose their coverage entirely. And about 20 million Americans are going to see their

01:35health care costs go up. I also talked to my colleagues about veterans. There are significant

01:39cuts to veteran services in this bill, not to mention programs that help farmers and small

01:48businesses. I actually just sat down with some farmers not 15 minutes ago, and they are absolutely

01:53terrified of what's going to happen with the cuts that are in this bill that's going to really

01:57decimate our ag sector. Talk to us a little bit about that. I mean, what were the conversations

02:03with farmers? I mean, what alarms were they raising to you? Well, they're saying that, you know,

02:09the cuts that are in this bill, some of them are not directly aimed at the ag sector, but it's going

02:13to hurt the ag sector. Cuts to EPA, for example, cuts to the FDA, because FDA and it looks at feed

02:23products that the feed that goes to animal feed, for example. And so there's all sorts of things in

02:28here that will end up hurting middle class families or hurt and up hurting ag in a significant way. It

02:34puts the air that we breathe in the water that our children drink at risk because it's going to go

02:38after the EPA and its ability to monitor the environmental health of this country.

02:44They're even looking to cut programs like the National Weather Service that farmers rely on to

02:49know that what they need to do with their crops from day to day. And then, you know, you and I need

02:54the National Weather Service. I'm a pilot. Pilots need the National Weather Service. And so these cuts

02:59are going to be, they're just so widespread and they're so, so egregious that it doesn't even,

03:05you know, if you're going to raise the budget, then raise it for a useful purpose, right, to extend

03:12more benefits to Americans. Or, you know, we've never as a nation raised the budget in order to

03:17fund tax cuts for billionaires and millionaires, except for under President Trump.

03:21I feel really lucky in my position. I've been able to talk with lawmakers across the aisle,

03:26Republicans and Democrats alike. And I've asked about arguably the most hot bun issue in this bill,

03:32which are Medicaid cuts. And Republicans have consistently said, we are not cutting Medicaid.

03:37We're getting out the waste, fraud and abuse. We're adding work requirements. And Senator Josh

03:42Hawley, he's been critical of potential Medicaid cuts. And he said this recently, quote, just had a

03:47great talk with President Trump about the big, beautiful bill. He said again, no Medicaid benefit

03:52cuts. What's your reaction to how he's characterizing what's happening to Medicaid?

03:57It's an outright lie. It is going to be Medicaid. These are cuts to Medicaid. People will lose

04:03access to their Medicaid benefits and people will die. And beyond that, some of the hospitals that are

04:10the last hospital standing in rural communities where you're at the only hospital in a tri-county area

04:15or in between two counties, you're going to lose those hospitals. I sat down with the Illinois Hospital

04:21Association and many of them, especially in rural parts of Illinois, have said, we will have to shut

04:25down. If these cuts to Medicaid happen, we will shut down and you will no longer have a hospital in

04:30this three-county area. And by the way, we're also the biggest employers. And so anybody that tells you

04:36that this doesn't cut Medicaid and people will not lose their Medicaid benefits is lying to you.

04:41Republicans have countered saying that, hey, adding, this is actually adding work requirements.

04:47Congressman David Spiker told me today there's close to 7 million prime age males missing from the

04:52labor force and that this would, you know, force them to get a job. Essentially, what's your reaction

04:58to the work requirements? My reaction is that it's indiscriminate. If somebody is fighting cancer

05:05and they're on Medicaid and they're getting chemotherapy and they're so sick that they can't

05:11get up out of bed, they can't go to work. And so let's make it clear what these Republicans are

05:16talking about. They are misleading people in order to bend to Trump's will in order to fund tax cuts

05:23for his billionaire buddies at the expense of middle-class families, people who rely on Medicaid

05:28in order to survive and make sure they have health coverage. People will die and hospitals will shut

05:34down and it will be President Trump's fault and the fault of their collaborators, my Republican

05:38colleagues. Elon Musk is the richest man in the world, according to Forbes. He also was working as a

05:45special government employee up until last week and he said this about the bill, quote, I'm sorry, but I

05:50just can't stand it anymore. This massive outrageous pork-filled congressional spending bill

05:55is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it. You know you did wrong. You know it.

06:00What are your thoughts on this break from Elon Musk and do you think this is going to move the needle

06:05at all in the Senate? Well, it's rare that I find myself agreeing with Elon Musk this year, but I

06:11happen to agree with him. Shame on my Republican colleagues who voted for this bill. And, you know,

06:17again, we cannot pass this bill. People are going to die. People are going to lose their jobs. The

06:23economy is going to tank and America is not going to be strong. It's not going to be great again.

06:28America is going to be weaker and sicker and it will be thanks to President Trump and this bill and the

06:32Republicans who vote for it. You're not the first Democrats tell me that if this bill's passed,

06:37people will die. And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer named it the, well, we're all going to

06:43die act. But back in March, Senator Chuck Schumer had a 180 when it came to the continuing resolution

06:49and he, along with nine Senate Democrats, ended up voting for it to avert a government shutdown.

06:55Based on your conversations right now, does it look like this legislation is going to get any

06:59Senate Democrat support? Well, that's not going to get my support and I've already let

07:05Chuck Schumer know how disappointed I was in his reverse of his position the last time and that

07:10we need to fight this because too many people's lives are dependent on us making sure that we

07:15don't cut Medicaid, we don't cut veteran services, we don't cut programs that help children who are

07:20hungry, we don't cut WIC, the Women, Infant and Children program that's part of this. We need to

07:25make sure that programs like AmeriCorps continues and make sure that we can have an EPA that actually

07:31functions and, you know, a FEMA that can help you when the tornado and the next hurricane hits

07:37your community. All of this is being gutted by Trump and I'm not going to vote to support it.

07:43And I think when it comes to this legislation in particular, one thing Democrats and Republicans

07:48can agree on is that there are going to be a lot of changes in the Senate from this bill and then it's

07:53going to get passed to the House. Where do you see the areas, based on your conversations now,

07:57where there are going to be the most changes? I don't know where they are because right now

08:02Leader Thune is not talking to us about the amendment process. One of the things about being

08:07in the Senate is you should be able to amend bills to make them better, but I don't know whether or not

08:11he's going to accept these bills and whether, and by the way, if Republicans vote unblocked to oppose

08:16it, whatever bills Democrats put forward, they're just going to oppose it even though they're good

08:20amendments and we may not actually win any of these amendments and it'll stay a terrible bill.

08:26And so what you're saying is based on the conversations now or based on the lack of

08:31conversations right now, you don't think Democrats can change this at all?

08:36We're going to try to change it, but we'll see how many Republicans have actually have the courage

08:40like a John McCain to step up and vote for their constituents instead of voting for Trump.

08:45And do you think that's going to be the case? Do you think any senator as of now is going to have

08:50their Senator John McCain moment here? Because I know that there are a few senators that have

08:55voiced their apprehensions. Well, I hope that they are, but I, you know, have become pretty

09:02pessimistic over the last couple of months, several months in the Trump administration where my

09:06Republican colleagues have shown that they don't have a backbone. They're not willing to stand up

09:10to Trump. And if anything, they'll do whatever he tells them to do, even at the expense of their

09:14constituents. And frankly, when you become a United States senator, you're supposed to put your

09:18constituents in your nation first, not Donald Trump. Senator Tammy Duckworth, I appreciate the

09:25conversation today. You're welcome back anytime. And as we see more developments out of what this

09:30is described as the big, beautiful bill, I hope you can come on and break it down with me. Thank

09:33you for your time. Thank you.

Category

Transcript

Recommended