Chuck Schumer Assails 'The Big Ugly Betrayal' After Republicans Unveil Senate Portion

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At a Senate Democratic press briefing on Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about the Republican budget proposal.

Transcript

00:00I hope anyone here who didn't watch his speech watches it.

00:05It has all kinds of things that I didn't see reported in the media until I heard him say

00:10it.

00:11It was powerful, it was strong, it was not at all arrogant or angry, but it was basically

00:19a strong plea for America to regain the gyroscope of democracy which has led us forward for so

00:28many years.

00:30And we're now, we're losing it.

00:32I heard in the speech, what did Noam say?

00:35She brought in troops to, what was the word?

00:38To liberate Los Angeles.

00:41What is going on here?

00:43I had not seen that in the media.

00:46So please watch that speech.

00:49It was really powerful.

00:51But it's a wake up call to all Americans, Democrat and Republican, and I was glad to see some

00:56of my Republicans stayed and listened to the speech about our democracy.

01:03Okay.

01:05And let me just say something a little bit about what happened in our Mansfield Room briefing

01:10that Senator Thune and I were part of.

01:13First, I want to be really clear about the Capitol Police.

01:17They've always been the silent heroes behind the scenes keeping our members safe.

01:22It's no secret.

01:24The country saw that on January the 6th and in the footage after.

01:30But after the awful assassinations this weekend, there's real concern in, not just here in

01:37the Capitol, but with folks across the country about the safety of elected officials.

01:42And in that meeting and in our lunch, many of our colleagues got up and told how they had

01:46been under real duress in terms of being threatened in one way or another, one way or another.

01:55And we need a full investigation of who's making those threats and to stop it.

02:01And not just stop it, to make sure the whole force of the law is used against them because

02:09almost all of these were what was done was criminal in my judgment.

02:14So but in any case, public servants and ordinary citizens should not have to fear their lives

02:22simply for doing their jobs.

02:25We believe we must take immediate steps to ensure the safety of members.

02:30And that includes sending significant additional funding and resources to the Capitol Police.

02:38Inside that room, there were a good number of Republicans who were nodding their heads and

02:42some who spoke out in favor of it.

02:43So we we hope, believe and sort of demand that it be bipartisan.

02:51Look at the administration.

02:52This is this is they're doing the opposite.

02:55USA Today reported that as lone actor attacks are on the rise, Trump cuts the program aimed

03:03at spotting them.

03:05The program called AIM, the program aimed at spotting them is a program to spot, it's called

03:12AIM, lone actor violent domestic extremists.

03:16They were taken out of that program and put in other roles.

03:21And since Trump took office, the the administration has sunk the program that goes after people

03:30like this to 10 people led by a 22 year old graduate with no law enforcement experience.

03:39They should change that immediately.

03:41It's just incredible.

03:42With everything going on, they're just cutting, cutting, cutting.

03:47Right now, we need to give our law enforcement more resources to prevent horrific acts, not

03:51less, as the Trump administration is doing.

03:55But I want to be clear about something.

03:57The dangerous environment isn't spontaneous.

04:00It's being stoked, often deliberately, by reckless rhetoric coming from the most powerful voices

04:09in the country.

04:11It's the responsibility of leaders, especially the president, to not just unequivocally condemn

04:17hatred, but to stop the violence and aggressive language used against political opponents.

04:22We are opponents.

04:23We're not the enemy, as he has tried to make us be.

04:29And that kind of rhetoric is dangerous and inflammatory.

04:35And instead, they're cutting the programs to prevent these tragedies.

04:38Okay, let me speak for a minute on the cuts, the big, ugly betrayal.

04:45Amy has insisted we use the word betrayal, and she's right.

04:49It's a great word.

04:52Last night, Republicans dropped the much-anticipated Finance Committee portion of the big, ugly betrayal.

05:00Who would have thought that the bill could get worse in the Senate when everyone thought

05:03it would get better, at least a little closer to what the American people want?

05:07But it got worse.

05:08It got more extreme.

05:10It did more damage to the American people, even than the House bill.

05:15The Medicaid cuts the Senate Republicans planned are even deeper and more devastating than the

05:19cuts made in the House.

05:21They made the biggest cut in Medicaid history even worse.

05:25It means that our Republicans are looking to rip health care away for more than 16 million.

05:31CBO kept raising it from 13 to 14 to 16 would lose health care.

05:36It's pretty certain that the next bill, the next CBO report, and of course, Trump will

05:42say the CBO lies.

05:44Anybody who doesn't agree with him, he just discounts.

05:48And that's one of the many, many problems with this administration.

05:52But I'm sure it will be more than 16 million.

05:56With the ACA cuts and defunding of Planned Parenthood, their bill would be nothing short

06:01of a backdoor abortion ban.

06:04Not only do they eliminate money for Planned Parenthood, but they don't allow people who

06:09get their health care from ACA to use any monies for reproductive activities.

06:18They do nothing to modify the horrible strangulation of the clean energy economy.

06:26It's a head fake.

06:29So you know, they moved up the deadlines somewhat for geothermal and for hydro.

06:40But the biggest producers of clean energy far and away, wind and solar, are still virtually

06:46eliminated by this bill.

06:49Virtually eliminated.

06:50800,000 jobs, lower energy costs, all gone.

06:58In fact, it is estimated that at minimum, this bill would raise the average American's electricity

07:03bill by 10 percent.

07:06So they're cutting jobs and raising your costs, American people.

07:12The legislation is going to surrender our clean energy leadership to China.

07:21That's what it's going to do.

07:23China in 10 years will just dominate clean energy if this bill passes and have the American consumer,

07:29you can be sure China will get Chinese consumers, will get a lot lower prices than Americans.

07:34They'll have us by the neck.

07:37Why are Senate Republicans shipping the jobs overseas?

07:40Why are they doing this?

07:41Why are they cutting SNAP?

07:44Tax cuts for billionaires.

07:46Ron is going to talk about that at great length or at greater length, at greater length.

07:55But Republicans, their fundamental belief is help those at the tippy top.

07:59Kill-down economics was discredited years ago.

08:03But this greedy, powerful, influential group of billionaires has the Republican Party's ear,

08:11and they just listen to them.

08:12They bow down in obeisance to them.

08:15That's why they come up with such a very unpopular bill.

08:18Amy at our caucus lunch today showed how the American people so much dislike this bill.

08:25Those who know about it and more and more know about it, and it's our job to get them to know

08:28about it.

08:30So, folks, we're going to fight this bill in every way that we can.

08:37And with that, Senator Klobuchar went through a very harrowing experience this weekend.

08:43We talked regularly about it, and I'd like to call on her now.

08:48Thanks, Chuck.

08:49Thank you, everyone.

08:50And thanks, Chuck, and thank you, Ron and Alex for that.

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