Richard Blumenthal: Big Beautiful Bill Is 'Un-American' Because 'It Is So Destructive To The Middle Class'

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On the Senate floor, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) slammed the Big Beautiful Bill.

Transcript

00:00I'm honored to follow my colleague, Senator Reid, and he is absolutely right that this bill

00:06is almost un-American. In fact, I would say it is un-American because it is so destructive

00:15to the middle class, to health care, to education, to basic fairness and decency. In our great

00:22country, the greatest country in the history of the world, it would balloon the debt and

00:28the deficit by $4 trillion, and yet my Republican colleagues have sought to disguise and hide

00:37that reprehensible pain and damage to the American system. It would cut Medicaid by $930 billion,

00:48which means billions in cuts for Connecticut, hundreds of thousands of Connecticut children

00:56and families off Medicaid, food nutrition shredded, and student loans decimated.

01:04These kinds of impacts on Connecticut are mirrored through the whole country, and the American

01:14people are beginning to get it. That's why this bill, the so-called one big beautiful bill,

01:24is so deeply unpopular. In fact, by two-to-one majority. And I want to talk not only about

01:31Connecticut, but two of the states that are represented by colleagues here, they are so-called

01:36red states. But make no mistake, this bill is seismically catastrophic, not just for Connecticut,

01:46but for the whole country and for Louisiana, where this measure, if it's passed, will mean that my

01:59colleagues from Louisiana are voting to kick roughly 250,000 people in their state off health insurance.

02:07They will be voting for a bill that could close 33 rural hospitals in their state alone and cost

02:18their state's health care providers $588 million for services that newly insured patients simply will

02:27not be able to pay back. Their state program would lose $4 billion. That's Louisiana alone in funding.

02:36These numbers are staggering. And they're the reason that every major health system in Louisiana is

02:46opposing this bill. Just yesterday, they sent a letter warning that cuts in this bill, and I'm quoting the

02:53Louisiana health care providers here, quote, would be historic in their devastation and warrant our shared

03:00advocacy to protect our patients and the care we provide them in hospitals and clinics.

03:06I could go on about Louisiana.

03:10I'm going to abbreviate my remarks and put my full statement in the record if there's no objection,

03:16Mr. President. Without objection.

03:20But this bill also reduces SNAP benefits for 206,000 Louisianans. It eliminates the benefit entirely

03:30for 94,000 of them. I want to see my colleagues from Louisiana go home and face their constituents,

03:38having cut the legs from SNAP and Medicaid programs and many other benefits. And in Utah,

03:46same tragic scenario unfolding in a state where 337,000 children and adults depend on Medicaid. Nearly

03:58half of all children in Utah are covered by Medicaid. 59% of nursing home residents, 60,000 people living in rural

04:09Utah communities covered by Medicaid. If this bill passes, at least 180,000 Utahns

04:17will lose health care coverage and Utah's uninsured rate will increase by a staggering 67%. If this bill passes, 31,000

04:33of the people in Utah could see their benefits slashed and 13,000 would risk losing their benefits entirely. Now,

04:42I just want to say in conclusion, these numbers for Connecticut, for Louisiana, for Utah,

04:54for the state of Washington, where my wonderful colleague Senator Cantwell will be talking shortly,

05:02they're not just numbers. They are faces. They are lives. They're children who are just beginning

05:12to be Americans. And their productivity, their contributions back to America will be hamstrung. Their lives

05:27will be financially handicapped. And health-wise, they will be impaired as a result of these

05:38irresponsible and reprehensible cuts. I couldn't be angrier about these kinds of cuts in programs done only so

05:51that the ultra-wealthy will receive tax cuts. I'm willing to bet that a lot of those billionaires and

05:53millionaires would forego those tax benefits if they understood the consequences.

06:12But my Republican colleagues, who are in disarray at this moment, they can't come together on a program

06:17because they know how abhorrent its effects would be on their state, ought to listen to the people of

06:25America, not the ultra-wealthy. And the people are speaking in the polls. They're speaking through

06:33their elected representatives, and they are speaking because their conscience simply won't let them

06:42support a bill that does such abhorrent damage to the American middle class, the American way of life,

06:51American values. And I'm proud to stand here. I wish we weren't here going all night into Monday morning,

06:59but I'm proud to stand here with my colleagues. And I just wish my Republican colleagues were on the same

07:07sides of these issues because they're going to go home and they'll have to face the children and

07:13families who will be hurt so deeply by this bill. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

07:20Mr. President. Senator from Washington.

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