'Buckling Under Its Own Weight': Chuck Schumer Torches Big Beautiful Bill As It Falters In Senate

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In Senate floor remarks, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) discussed the Big Beautiful Bill.

Transcript

00:00think. Now on reconciliation. Everybody needs to understand exactly what's going on with the

00:06Republicans' so-called reconciliation bill. Their big, beautiful bill is buckling under its own

00:12weight. Republicans can't agree among themselves on just how devastating to make their own bill.

00:20How should it be a lot devastating, even more devastating, but don't be fooled.

00:24Republicans absolutely agree that one way or the other, they want Medicare cut to the bone.

00:32So now Republicans are scrambling behind closed doors trying to rewrite the bill

00:37just enough to keep their Medicaid cuts alive. And why are they doing this? We know why.

00:44They want tax cuts for billionaires. But here's a thought. Instead of finding new ways to pass the

00:50same old cuts. Why don't Republicans keep promises they've been making for weeks not to cut Medicaid?

00:55The dissonance we're hearing from Republicans is head spinning. Because on the one hand,

01:01we've been hearing the same talking points for weeks. That somehow they're not going to cut

01:06people's Medicaid. That they're, quote, not in favor of cutting benefits regarding Medicaid.

01:11The quote, that quote, no one's losing their health care. That quote, should not there be any cuts?

01:19These are real statements. I just read from our Senate Republican colleagues in the last month,

01:25Senators Blackburn and Bozeman and Cassidy and Cornyn. And there's plenty more where that came from,

01:30but their words, unfortunately, don't match their actions. The Republican bill does exactly the

01:37opposite of what they're saying. It doesn't save Medicare and health care. It eviscerates it.

01:43Independent studies show the Republican bill would cut health care for 16 million Americans. It would

01:48decimate rural hospitals. It would harm nursing homes. It would kill nearly a million jobs.

01:54And it would raise health care costs for everyone, even those with private insurance.

01:59That's the bill the Republicans are working on right now. And that's what it would do.

02:03Apparently, Republicans are okay with the consequences. Former leader McConnell shoved

02:09off, shrugged off people's concerns, saying folks worried about Medicaid cuts will, quote,

02:15get over it. They'll have to get over it. Isn't that cruel? Meanwhile, Senator Ernst told people to

02:21stop fussing because, quote, we're all going to die. What planet are they on? Is this Republican talk to

02:28people back home worried about seeing a doctor? Is this how Republicans talk to people back home

02:34worried about seeing a doctor, taking care of their kids, and affording prescription drugs?

02:39Now, a few Senate Republicans have shown some flickers of lucidity in closed-door meetings and

02:46hallway conversations. A few at least claim they recognize what the rest of us already know.

02:52Their own bill would decimate their own constituents. The senior senator from North Carolina was handing

02:58out flyers at a recent Republican lunch detailing how his own state and nine others would lose tens

03:04of billions in funding and see hundreds of thousands of people lose insurance. The senior senator from

03:10Missouri acknowledged, it's just not the right thing to do to shut down a bunch of rural hospitals to pay

03:15for tax cuts. The senator from Wisconsin warned, we are mortgaging our children's future. It's

03:22unconscionable. It's immoral. It has to stop. Well, these are all nice words, but they mean nothing

03:28if the only thing Republicans do over the next few days is find new ways to pass the same old cuts.

03:35New lipstick, same pig. That's what's going on right now with the Republican bill. So Republicans

03:41have a choice to make. They can keep chasing arbitrary deadlines. They can keep making edits and

03:47changes in the hopes that some combination of Medicaid and SNAP and clean energy cuts will make

03:51it to the floor. They can keep rewriting a bad bill into a slightly different bad bill. Or they can ask

03:59the obvious question, should we pass this bill at all? The answer is no. They should abandon Donald

04:07Trump's so-called beautiful bill.

04:15It makes no sense whatever for Republicans to pass a bill that even they admit will kick millions of

04:22hard-working Americans off health insurance. It makes no sense for Republicans to pass a bill

04:27that will kill good-paying energy jobs, most of them in Republican states, while surrendering

04:32American energy independence to China. It is morally bankrupt to take food away from kids to give to

04:39the ultra-rich, and morally bankrupt to saddle future generations with insurmountable debt.

04:46And it is morally bankrupt to ask working and middle Americans to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires at

04:52a time. They're struggling to pay for groceries and rent. So the Senate Republican bill is not just flawed,

05:00it is irredeemable. I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.

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