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Schumer, Dem Leaders Slam GOP Reconciliation Bill, Trump Sending Troops To Los Angeles
Forbes Breaking News
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6/10/2025
Senate Democratic leaders hold their weekly press briefing.
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00:00
Going on, so our caucus lasted a while. Thank you for waiting.
00:03
And I want to thank Senators Schatz and Heinrich and Smith for joining us.
00:08
Well, this week, as Republicans continue to jam through the big, ugly betrayal,
00:14
we're continuing to sound the alarm on the devastating impacts of this bill.
00:20
It doesn't just gut Medicaid, it dismantles the ACA,
00:24
and we've just found it even forces cuts in Medicare.
00:27
Medicare, so important to so many people, almost sacred, and it cuts that too.
00:34
In New York, couples covered through the ACA would pay almost $3,000 more a year.
00:42
People hate it when their health insurance goes up,
00:45
and it's going up a lot because of the big, ugly betrayal.
00:51
Private insurance will also go up.
00:53
You say, well, I don't have Medicare, I don't have Medicaid, I'm safe.
00:55
Private insurance is going up as well.
00:59
All of this to pay for tax cuts to billionaires.
01:03
It's no secret that this awful bill would rip away health care from 16 million Americans,
01:09
steal food from children, balloon the debt,
01:12
but it would also kill millions of jobs and skyrocket costs.
01:16
And this week, that's what we are focusing on.
01:19
It's not just health care costs that would go through the roof.
01:22
Energy costs will be soaring.
01:24
American households will pay up to $32 billion more for their energy.
01:30
Starting next year, Americans will see a 10% increase in electricity prices.
01:35
So will small businesses.
01:37
In the Republican complete and total fealty to big oil and gas,
01:41
they're hell-bent on destroying America's clean energy economy.
01:46
It makes no sense.
01:47
Clean energy is the cheapest way to produce new energy.
01:50
The cheapest way is solar.
01:53
It's the quickest, it's the cheapest.
01:55
So why are they cutting it?
01:58
Particularly when our country needs more energy because of the AI needs and so many other needs.
02:03
I'll tell you why.
02:04
Because there are a bunch of right-wing fossil fuel ideologues who hate all clean energy
02:10
because they know it's the future, because they know it's cheaper, because they know it's the quickest to build.
02:16
But they somehow have infiltrated the Trump administration, and they're calling the shots.
02:22
Republicans in their rampage against climate are hurting American families.
02:27
Republicans who claim to fight for jobs and families back home should oppose any proposal to do this.
02:35
Look what we're talking about here.
02:37
A bill so awful, so ill-conceived, that House Republicans had to pass it in the dead of night.
02:43
But now that Americans are finally learning what's in it, they have to go back again to fix it.
02:51
Senate Democrats are committed to fighting this bill every way we can.
02:56
That's why in the last few weeks we have doggedly made the argument that the House Republican bill
03:01
doesn't meet the requirements for privilege in the Senate.
03:05
This is the first argument in reconciliation, privilege.
03:08
It has to fit the committees.
03:10
And if it doesn't, they've got to go change it.
03:13
Well, we made the argument that the House Republican bill doesn't meet the requirements for privilege,
03:20
and Senate Republicans were forced to concede it's true.
03:24
So now the House is going to have to vote again on a rule to change the bill,
03:30
which gives some of those Republicans who say they hated the bill,
03:34
some of those Republicans who say they didn't know what was in the bill,
03:37
some of those Republicans who sent a letter to the Senate saying change the bill,
03:41
a chance to do it.
03:44
It's a do-over, a chance to stand up and vote for their constituents.
03:49
As you know, some House Republicans expressed regret for the vote, as I said.
03:53
They didn't understand what they were voting for,
03:56
especially the clean energy changes were done in the dark of night.
04:00
And now they can show that their regrets are real or just hollow words.
04:05
It's clear after actually reading the text and hearing from the public,
04:10
some House Republicans are howling by a remorse.
04:14
So I say to the House Republicans, particularly those who signed the letter,
04:18
but many others who have expressed discomfort and concern at the provisions,
04:23
now's your next chance.
04:26
Now you had a chance once, you failed.
04:28
Here's a second chance.
04:30
No more ducking.
04:31
They have their vote.
04:33
They should use it to protect their constituents from this horrible bill.
04:38
And if Senate Republicans actually pass the legislation,
04:41
it's not going to grow the economy.
04:43
It's not going to help the middle class.
04:45
It's not going to deliver for working families.
04:47
It's all going to deliver tax breaks for the billionaires.
04:51
Senator Schatz.
04:57
This bill is going to create shortages of food,
05:02
create shortages for health care,
05:05
and in particular, we want to emphasize the shortages in electricity
05:10
that this is going to cause.
05:12
This is a basic question of supply and demand.
05:15
Energy demand in the U.S. is soaring for the first time in many, many decades.
05:21
Gas turbines are stuck in years-long backlogs.
05:26
There's more investment in clean energy than in fossil fuel projects,
05:30
and yet Republicans are racing to kill those clean energy projects to come online.
05:35
Set aside for the very moment we are in,
05:39
the question of fighting climate change.
05:44
Whatever your view about energy policy,
05:48
both parties ought to agree that we shouldn't intentionally create shortages.
05:53
There will not be enough energy online in the next three to five years
05:58
if they pass this bill.
06:01
And the leader is exactly right.
06:02
There is an unexpected opportunity for those House members
06:06
who voted for something, I guess not knowing what was in it,
06:10
and then writing a letter to us saying,
06:12
could you please fix it?
06:14
And my view is, sure, we'll fix it.
06:16
But the thing is,
06:18
you guys get to vote this week
06:20
to establish in three dimensions
06:23
that you actually disagree
06:25
with eviscerating the clean energy tax credits.
06:29
You just put that in writing.
06:31
You had some deniability after you cast your vote to say,
06:35
look, it was a big bill,
06:36
it was a fast process,
06:37
and we're just at the beginning of this.
06:39
Would you please fix it?
06:40
You guys get to fix this.
06:42
You guys get to vote in rules
06:44
and then on the House floor
06:46
to put your vote where your mouth is.
06:51
Thank you, Senator Schatz.
06:54
Who's next?
06:55
Senator Heinrich.
06:57
Thank you, Leader.
06:58
As Senator Schatz said,
07:02
the conundrum we're in with electricity right now
07:05
is that we haven't been in this supply-demand space
07:09
since air conditioners became a widely available technology.
07:14
That was the last time we saw the kind of growth in demand
07:17
that we're experiencing right now.
07:21
On the supply side,
07:23
the place we find ourselves in right now
07:25
is one where if you want to order
07:27
a combined-cycle natural gas turbine,
07:30
if you ordered it yesterday,
07:31
you're going to get it in 2030 or 2031.
07:35
If you want to build a new API 1000
07:38
nuclear generating station,
07:41
as the President has said he does,
07:44
it's going to take you five to ten years
07:46
to actually build that.
07:47
If you want to do the geothermal stuff
07:50
that's taking off in Utah
07:51
and to some extent in New Mexico,
07:54
that's scaling slow.
07:56
It's going to be five to ten years
07:57
before that stuff is at scale.
07:59
So if you look at this incredibly increased demand
08:02
from artificial intelligence,
08:05
from electrification,
08:06
from the surge we've seen in manufacturing,
08:08
and you look at the supply
08:10
that's coming onto the grid in 2024
08:13
and what's coming on in 2025,
08:16
well over 90% of that
08:19
is actually renewables plus storage.
08:22
And that's the case
08:24
because it's the cheapest,
08:25
fastest to permit and fastest to build.
08:28
So if you start throttling back
08:30
90% of your supply
08:32
at a time when demand is going through the roof,
08:35
what's the impact of that?
08:36
And I'm here to tell you the impact is
08:38
electricity bills are going up.
08:41
They are going up all across the country
08:43
and Republicans are going to own that
08:47
because there is no world
08:49
in which we throttle supply
08:51
like they are doing right now,
08:53
especially with this reconciliation bill,
08:56
but in five or ten other different ways as well.
08:59
And you don't see those electric bills
09:03
go through the roof.
09:05
IRA tax credits are the biggest piece of that,
09:10
but it's not the only one.
09:11
They're also,
09:12
they've basically eviscerated the agencies
09:14
that finance or permit many of these things.
09:17
They said they wanted to build nuclear.
09:19
The only nuclear that's been built
09:21
in the last 30 years
09:22
is what we just saw happen in Georgia,
09:24
and that happened because of the loan program office
09:27
where they've lost half the staff
09:28
and defunded it in the president's budget.
09:31
If you want to produce oil and gas,
09:33
you need somebody at the Bureau of Land Management
09:35
who can actually pick up the phone about a permit.
09:38
They have chased people
09:40
out of the Bureau of Land Management.
09:42
You add that to the kind of permitting abuse
09:45
that we've seen with Empire Wind,
09:47
a fully permitted multi-gigawatt project,
09:51
and then you throw in some steel and aluminum tariffs
09:54
just to make what natural gas projects are in the books
09:57
even more expensive.
09:58
This is a perfect storm of higher electricity rates,
10:03
and if they pass this reconciliation bill without changes,
10:07
they're going to own every bit of it.
10:10
Now, Senator Smith.
10:13
Thank you, Senator Schumer.
10:15
Thanks, everybody.
10:16
So President Trump promised Americans
10:18
that he would lower the cost of housing,
10:20
but today, renting a home, buying a home,
10:23
is more expensive than ever,
10:24
and the big, beautiful bill, so-called,
10:27
is going to make that worse and not better.
10:29
In this bill, deep-pocketed corporate landlords
10:32
and private equity firms will be getting big tax breaks,
10:35
while people who have worked hard
10:37
and have saved up the money that they need
10:40
to buy a home will find that a mortgage
10:41
is higher and harder and harder to afford.
10:46
Just think about mortgage costs for a minute.
10:47
The cost of a 30-year mortgage for a Minnesotan
10:51
looking to buy a home would go up more than $18,000
10:54
because of the provisions in President Trump
10:57
and the Republican tax bill.
10:59
What's this about?
11:00
The huge deficits in this bill
11:02
are going to drive up the national debt,
11:04
and that's going to drive up mortgage costs for everyone.
11:07
Not only will mortgage rates go up,
11:10
but Trump's budget would cut rental assistance by almost 40%.
11:14
So for working people, this means folks
11:16
that are working really hard and trying to hold it together,
11:19
trying to afford their lives, are going to be hurt.
11:22
There is something seriously wrong
11:24
when the Republican's bill subsidizes
11:27
the very same private equity firms
11:29
and big corporate investors
11:30
that are buying at homes around the country
11:33
and making it impossible for regular folks
11:35
to compete to buy that starter home.
11:37
But instead of unrigging the system
11:39
so that it's fair for people,
11:41
this big, beautiful bill makes it worse.
11:43
It raises costs for middle-class people,
11:46
not just on housing, but also on energy
11:49
and utility bills and food,
11:51
and regular Americans are going to be paying more
11:54
while big corporations and rich people
11:56
get all the tax breaks.
11:57
That's Trump and Republicans' big, beautiful bill,
12:00
and it's wrong, and Americans do not like it.
12:03
Thank you, Tina.
12:05
All right, I'm ready for some questions.
12:06
Yes, down there.
12:07
Well, first, we had one victory in this area
12:25
even before the bill started,
12:27
because the Republican proposal
12:29
that would not allow a court decision
12:31
to be in effect nationwide was outrageous.
12:34
We made arguments that we were going to make sure
12:37
the parliamentarian knocked it down,
12:38
and before it even got to the parliamentarian,
12:40
they pulled it out.
12:41
On this latest proposal,
12:43
that would basically take away the ability
12:45
of the courts to enforce the law
12:47
by changing contempt,
12:50
we are going to go before the parliamentarian,
12:52
make a vigorous, strong argument against it.
12:55
We think it does not meet the need.
12:57
We think the birdbath will make it fail.
13:00
Okay?
13:01
Yes.
13:03
Senator Butterman has said
13:04
that Democrats have lost the moral background
13:07
by insufficiently condemning the U.S. riots.
13:10
What's your reaction to that?
13:11
The bottom line is that violence in the riots
13:14
is outrageous and should never happen full stop.
13:21
That's the bottom line,
13:22
and anyone who commits violence
13:24
or breaks the law should be fully prosecuted.
13:27
Having said that,
13:29
Donald Trump bringing American troops
13:31
and American Marines in against American citizens
13:36
is not only provocative,
13:38
it's not only dangerous,
13:40
it really threatens the bedrock of our democracy.
13:42
Yes?
13:43
If Republicans failed to pass reconciliation in time
13:47
by the ex-state and need to negotiate with you,
13:49
what would you ask in exchange for that vote?
13:51
Not debating hypotheticals right now.
13:54
Yes?
13:54
Sir, can you give me an endorsement
13:56
in the New York City Mayor race?
13:58
I'm not going to make an endorsement.
13:59
Mr. Schumer, there were going to be defense provisions
14:02
in this reconciliation bill,
14:04
and I understand how Democrats feel
14:05
about the President sending in troops to Los Angeles.
14:08
Would you try to put amendments into the Voterama
14:11
to try to bring some of that back?
14:14
You're going to see a whole bunch of amendments
14:15
on Voterama dealing with all of these issues.
14:18
Thank you, everybody.
14:19
Voterama's opinion on the President's deportation plans.
14:22
Voterama's opinion on the President's deportation plans.
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