Chuck Schumer Says GOP Representatives Have 'Golden Opportunity' To Reverse Cuts In Budget

Forbes Breaking News

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called on House Republicans to reverse cuts in the Republican budget.

Transcript

00:02It's great to be back here in the House, and I want to thank Hakeem for the great job he

00:05has done and constantly does against this big, ugly bill.

00:10Now as Republican Congress members went home after voting for the bill, they got a huge

00:15amount of flack because the more the public knows about this bill, the less they like

00:19it.

00:20And so many of them said, well, I didn't like that part.

00:22I didn't like this part.

00:24I didn't even read the bill, some of them say.

00:27Well, now is their opportunity to make the changes that they told their constituencies

00:34that they don't like in the bill.

00:36The bottom line is, what is a Congress member's core power embodied in the Constitution?

00:41The power to vote, and they ought to exercise that power to vote this afternoon because it's

00:50a unique opportunity to change this bill.

00:56If it's because they didn't technically provide the right bill to pass the Senate, it has to

01:04be sent back to the House.

01:07And if even a handful of Republicans vote no this afternoon on the rule, they will have

01:13that opportunity.

01:13They will have the opportunity to change the vicious cuts on Medicaid that hurt so many,

01:21that will close rural hospitals in many of their districts.

01:24They have the opportunity to restore the tax credits on clean energy because if they don't,

01:32it's going to affect their districts.

01:35At least in the Senate, 70%, 75% of the clean energy projects are in Republican states.

01:42And I imagine it's not that dissimilar in terms of districts.

01:46If they want to stop the vicious cuts to snap, if they want to prevent the billionaires from

01:52getting tax credits, whatever they went home and told people they didn't like.

01:55And a few of them said they didn't even read the bill.

01:58And many of them whispered to each other, we didn't know this was in the bill, particularly

02:01on the energy tax credits, which was done at the dark of night because Chip Roy and his

02:06right wing Texans just have a religious hatred of clean energy.

02:14So now's the time.

02:16This is a golden opportunity.

02:18If they really mean what they say and they want to change the bill, this is their golden

02:25opportunity.

02:26Don't throw the key away.

02:27Don't shrug your shoulders a second time and say, well, there were things I liked in

02:32the bill and didn't like.

02:33This is the chance to change it.

02:35And I say and we say to every Republican Congress member, this vote shows if you're real when

02:44you said you want to scale back clean energy, when you said you don't like the Medicaid cuts,

02:49when you said the snap cuts are too deep, when you said the court's powers of contempt should

02:54not be taken away.

02:56If you're real about it, if you're not just BS-ing your constituents, vote no and then you have

03:02an opportunity to change the bill.

03:04Thanks, Chuck.

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