00:00Senator from Vermont. Thank you. Mr. President, President Trump's so-called big, beautiful bill,
00:13now on the floor of the Senate, is the most dangerous piece of legislation in the modern
00:20history of our country. It is a gift to the billionaire class, while causing massive pain
00:29for low-income and working-class Americans. Actually, though, Mr. President, I'm wrong.
00:36This is not a gift to the billionaire class. They paid for it. This bill is an absolute reflection
00:45of a corrupt campaign finance system which allows billionaires to buy elections. And when billionaires
00:55spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars trying to elect a president or a senator
01:01or a member of Congress, they're not making that investment just for the fun of it. They
01:07want something in return. And this legislation, big time, is what they are getting in return.
01:16So what is in this bill that they invested in? Well, if you are in the top 1%, you and the
01:28class you represent will receive a $975 billion tax break. $975 billion tax break at a time when
01:44the richest people in this country have never, ever had it so good. Further, this is really quite
01:51unbelievable. If you are among the wealthiest two-tenths of 1%, not talking about 1%, talking
02:01about the top two-tenths of 1%, you will be able to pay zero taxes on your $30 million inheritance.
02:10So all of you folks out there who are waiting to inherit at least $30 million, today is a
02:16good day for you. Collectively, you will receive approximately $211 billion in tax breaks for
02:28the top two-tenths of 1%. Congratulations. You hit the jackpot. If you are a large corporation,
02:39and you want to throw workers out on the street and replace them with artificial intelligence or
02:46maybe you want to shift your profits to the Cayman Islands or other tax havens, you are going to get a
02:53$918 billion tax break. Congratulations to the CEOs of large profitable corporations.
03:03But while the rich and large corporations make out like bandits in this bill, what does it do for low-income
03:15and working families? Well, let me say a few words on that. If you are concerned about health care,
03:25which I suspect that everybody in the world is, this bill throws over 16 million people off the
03:34health insurance they have, according to the Congressional Budget Office, by cutting Medicaid
03:40in the Affordable Care Act by over $1.1 trillion. In other words, the top 1% getting a $975 billion tax break,
03:55and that is coming directly by throwing 16 million people off of the health insurance they have.
04:02This bill, for the first time, forces millions of Medicaid recipients who make as little as $16,000 a year
04:14to pay a $35 copayment every time they visit a doctor's office.
04:21So what is the impact of all of that? You throw 16 million people off health care,
04:27you charge force people who don't have any money, pay a $35 copayment. So what's the impact of it?
04:33Well, this is not my view. This is what the Yale School of Public Health and the University of
04:40Pennsylvania determined based on a study that they did. And this is the result. And it is almost
04:48so horrific, so grotesque, that it is difficult to speak about.
04:53But they estimate that if this bill goes through with all of these cuts in health care, if 16 million
05:02people are thrown off of the insurance they have, over 50,000 Americans will die unnecessarily every year.
05:1250,000 Americans will die unnecessarily in order to give tax breaks to billionaires who don't need them.
05:25In other words, this bill is literally a death sentence for low-income and working-class people.
05:33Further, if this legislation is enacted, rural hospitals all over the country, and I come from
05:40one of the most rural states in America, rural hospitals are already struggling. But when you
05:46make massive cuts to Medicaid, many of them are going to shut down or not be able to provide
05:54the level of services they do today. In other words, this bill would be a disaster for rural America.
06:03It would also make massive cuts to community health centers and nursing homes who are very
06:10heavily dependent upon Medicaid funding.
06:15Bottom line is that this legislation is the most significant attack on the health care needs of the
06:23American people in our country's history. We already have, as everybody knows, a health care system which
06:33is broken, which is dysfunctional, and instead of addressing it, instead of doing what every other
06:40major country on earth does guarantee health care to all people, we are throwing 16 million people off the
06:47health insurance that they have. But it's not just health care. The future of America rests with our
06:56children. And yet in a nation which now has the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on
07:07earth, this bill wipes out nutrition assistance for millions of hungry kids in America. We are literally
07:17taking food out of the mouths of hungry kids to give tax breaks to Mr. Bezos and Mr. Musk and Mr.
07:26Zuckerberg and the other multi-billionaires.
07:29The first bill is the highest rate of education. If we understand that if we're going to compete effectively in the
07:36global economy, we need to have the best education system in the world, this bill makes $350 billion in cuts in
07:46education with the result that working class kids will find it much harder to get the higher education they need to
07:56succeed in life. If you are concerned about the existential threat of climate change,
08:04and we're seeing heat waves right now all over the world, this bill decimates investments in energy
08:12efficiency and sustainable energy like wind and solar and moves us in exactly the wrong direction with
08:21regard to energy. If you are concerned about our role in never-ending wars, this bill makes a bad situation
08:33even worse by handing out another $150 billion to the Pentagon, a 15% increase in an already bloated
08:45Pentagon budget. We don't have enough money to feed hungry children.
08:49We don't have enough money to make sure that people continue to have the health care that they need.
08:54We don't have enough money to make sure the kids can get a decent education, but somehow the military
09:02industrial complex is going to get another $150 billion, 15% increase. Mr. President, in my view, nobody in the Senate or the House should vote for this legislation.
09:17And I applaud all of the Democrats for voting against it. And I want to congratulate two Republicans,
09:27Senator Paul and Senator Tillis, for voting against it for different reasons, by the way, than I have.
09:34But I do find it interesting, and it does tell us where we are as a nation today, that when one of those senators, Senator Tillis,
09:42voted against it because he thought it was not a good bill for the people of his home state, North Carolina,
09:51suddenly the President of the United States went after him in a very, very vicious way. And today he announced
09:58that he will not be seeking re-election. So it appears now that the Republican Party
10:08has really become a party of the cult of the individual. The only thing you have to do now
10:15as a Republican is to say, I agree with President Trump. I love President Trump. President Trump is
10:20right all of the time. Hey, that's all you got to do now to be a good Republican. There was a day
10:28when Republicans and Democrats understood that they were elected by their constituents. Yeah,
10:34you want to work with the president of your own party, nothing to do about that.
10:37But there was an understanding that you were also re-elected to represent your constituents,
10:48and not simply pay homage and bow down to every wish and whim of the president.
10:55Mr. President, during the Voterama, I will be offering several amendments, which I hope will win
11:08support. Number one, at a time when 22 percent of our nation's seniors are trying to survive on less
11:18than $15,000 a year, my first amendment would fundamentally improve their lives in two significant
11:24ways. Number one, it would cut the price of prescription drugs under Medicare in half
11:31by making sure that our nation's seniors do not pay any more than Europeans or Canadians pay for the
11:37same exact drugs. And number two, with those savings, we're going to expand Medicare to cover dental,
11:45vision and hearing. In other words, instead of throwing people off of healthcare, we're going to expand
11:51Medicare to provide a number of services that seniors desperately need and want. Secondly,
12:00Mr. President, at a time of massive income and wealth inequality, my second amendment
12:07would eliminate the $211 billion estate tax for the top two-tenths of one percent that is included
12:15in this bill. They get a top two percent, as I mentioned, $211 billion tax rate. That is insane.
12:22We're going to get rid of that. And lastly, at a time when we spend more on the military
12:29than the next nine nations combined, at a time when the Pentagon cannot account for trillions of dollars
12:36and assets, we are going to end the provision that allows the Pentagon to receive another 150 billion
12:45dollars. Bottom line, Mr. President, is this country faces many crises, high rate of childhood poverty,
12:56kids going hungry, education system in deep trouble, healthcare system completely broken.
13:02And in virtually every single area, this bill takes us in precisely the wrong direction.
13:11When the wealthiest people in this country have never ever had it so good, it is totally insane
13:18to be offering them a trillion dollars in tax breaks so that we can cut healthcare, education, and nutrition.
13:27This bill is not what the American people want, and I hope very much we can defeat it. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
13:43The Sergeant of Arms Restore Order, the Sergeant of Arms Restore Order, the Sergeant of Arms Restore Order.
