00:02Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, Mr. Leader, for setting the record straight.
00:07It's really awful when we hear Republicans come down here and they just don't tell the truth about the bill that they are trying to pass.
00:13Maybe that's why they try to pass it in the middle of the night.
00:16They think no one will really notice.
00:18Would the gentlelady yield?
00:19I will.
00:20Senator yield.
00:21All you have to do is look at their faces.
00:23They know what they're doing.
00:25They know it's unpopular.
00:27They know, as Senator Murkowski said, that they're all afraid, but it's time for them to stand up, isn't it?
00:34Yep.
00:35So on Friday, I met Vivian.
00:39Vivian is an 11-year-old kid from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
00:44Vivian likes school.
00:45She likes her friends.
00:46She likes reading Harry Potter.
00:48She is a lot like any other 11-year-old.
00:51But for Vivi, going to school and being with her friends depends on Medicaid.
00:57Because Medicaid covers the cost for her wheelchair, for her therapists, and for her health aide.
01:04Right now, Republicans are trying to rip away health care from kids like Vivian.
01:10The cruelty is truly breathtaking.
01:13I ask for one Republican senator, just one Republican senator, who plans to vote for this bill, to look into Vivi's eyes and tell her that her health care is just not a priority for this country.
01:29You know, Mitch McConnell said to Republican senators that he knew they were getting calls about Medicaid, but not to worry about people losing their care, because, according to Mitch McConnell, they will get over it.
01:44So, I ask the Republican senators to look at Vivi and Vivi's sisters and Vivi's mom and Vivi's dad and say, if Vivi loses her Medicaid and her wheelchair and her therapists and her health aide, tell all of them that they will get over it.
02:09Because here's the deal, Vivi won't get over it.
02:14Her family won't get over it.
02:16The people of North Carolina won't get over it.
02:19None of us – Massachusetts, Idaho, Louisiana – none of us will get over it.
02:26The cruelty here is off the charts.
02:30But the part that really burns is the Republicans are trying to slash the health care that keeps kids like Vivi alive so they can hand out more tax cuts for billionaires.
02:43It is beyond cruel.
02:45It is obscene.
02:47I am angry.
02:48And we should all be angry.
02:52Because instead of playing at the pool or the park like a regular kid on summer break, Vivian had to come here to Washington to beg senators not to cut her health care.
03:05In a country as rich as ours, that shouldn't even be a question.
03:11Now, I actually don't think that my Republican colleagues have lost their hearts.
03:18They have lost their spines.
03:20It seems that all they can do now is bow down to Donald Trump and his billionaire donors.
03:27They will bow down, even if it means hurting families, community hospitals, and nursing homes in their own states.
03:36Trump wants the Republicans in Congress to hand out giant checks to the wealthiest Americans in the biggest corporations.
03:44And the Republican senators are willing to do that, even if it means kicking Vivi to the curb.
03:52Republicans know what they're doing.
03:54They know that this bill will hurt people.
03:56They know that this bill will kill people.
04:00And though it's hard to believe, they just look the other way.
04:05But on behalf of Vivi and millions of other kids and mamas and seniors and families that rely on the life-saving care that Medicaid makes possible,
04:16my Republican colleagues should grow a spine and stop this awful bill in its tracks.
04:25If it wasn't bad enough that this bill is set to rip away health care from 17 million Americans to pay for tax giveaways for billionaires, it actually has a bunch of other filthy giveaways buried in it, too.
04:42Who wins if Republicans pass this big ugly bill?
04:48Billionaires?
04:49Wall Street?
04:50Big Tech?
04:51Big Oil?
04:52The wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations?
04:57Big Oil?
04:58Big Oil will get a special get-out-of-paying-your-taxes card while millions of people lose their health care coverage.
05:07Billions of dollars for Big Oil?
05:10Nothing for Vivi.
05:12Meta.
05:13Oh, man.
05:14Meta.
05:15There's a company that's really struggling.
05:17Meta will win $15 billion to incentivize them to do research in 2022-23, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
05:34Think about that.
05:35Unless a time machine comes with this, what Meta does in those three years is already done.
05:42But under this bill, Meta gets a $15 billion check on the day this bill passes simply for existing while families lose access to their health care.
05:57Wall Street wins big with a provision Republicans squeezed in that would slash funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
06:07Giant corporations want the opportunity to cheat American families again.
06:13So Republicans are desperately trying to take the cop off the beat.
06:20And who loses, thanks to this big, ugly bill?
06:24Americans who can't afford health care.
06:26Families who need a little extra help putting food on the table.
06:29Grandmas and grandpas in nursing homes.
06:33Little babies and their mamas.
06:36If Republicans pass this bill, 17 million Americans will have their health care ripped away.
06:44That number has kept growing as the Republicans keep making more and more changes to the bill.
06:51For them, it is just a question of how many more Americans they can rip away health care from.
07:00This bill would also make the biggest cut to food assistance for families, kids, and veterans in American history.
07:10And here's one to underscore.
07:13One out of every four nursing homes in America would have to shut down under this bill.
07:21You know, my Republican colleagues should just call a few seniors who are in nursing homes in their home states
07:29and just go over the plans for where those folks are supposed to go next.
07:35What exactly do the Republicans have in mind for them?
07:38Maybe call the daughter of someone who's in one of those nursing homes and explain how she has to become a full-time caregiver once this bill passes.
07:52Maybe call just a few of the people whose lives you plan to tear apart.
08:01Budgets are about our values.
08:04And Republicans have made their values clear.
08:08They are willing to throw millions of Americans under the bus so that they can help out a handful of their billionaire buddies and giant corporations.
08:19They should be ashamed.
08:22Here's what Democrats believe.
08:25Democrats believe that no baby should go hungry so that Mark Zuckerberg can buy another Hawaiian island.
08:32Democrats believe that no person with a disability who needs a wheelchair or a home health aide to live independently should have to give that up so that Jeff Bezos can buy a third yacht.
08:46And Democrats believe that no grandma should be pushed out of her nursing home so that Elon Musk can take a subsidized rocket ship ride to Mars.
09:00It doesn't have to be this way.
09:05What if instead of tax breaks for billionaires, we make the rich pay their fair share?
09:12What if instead of slashing health care for our kids, we make it possible for every American to see a doctor when they're sick without breaking the bank?
09:24And what if instead of giving big oil more giant handouts, we make universal childcare a reality for families all across this country?
09:37We can tax the rich.
09:40Dammit, if Jeff Bezos can afford to rent Venice for $50 million for his wedding, he can afford to pitch in his fair share on taxes so the next kid has a chance to make it big and the kid after that and the kid after that.
10:00We can make life better for working people.
10:04We can make it easier, not harder.
10:07We can lower costs for families, not jack them up even more like this bill does.
10:12We can put families first, not billionaires and billionaire corporations.
10:19Democrats believe this.
10:21Democrats are willing to fight for this.
10:24We will vote no on this awful bill.
10:27And for kids like Vivian, for seniors in nursing homes, for families who rely on home health aids, and for the millions more Americans that this bill will hurt, I urge my Republican colleagues, grow a spine and vote no.
