Sheldon Whitehouse Accuses GOP Of Adding 'Trillions' To National Debt With Big Beautiful Bill

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During debate on the Senate floor, Rep. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) tore into Senate Republicans' version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and impacts on the national debt.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Senator Merkley.

00:01I mentioned earlier the history of the section

00:05that the Republican budget chairman is using

00:08to perform this multi-trillion dollar magical act

00:14of making huge deficit-busting numbers disappear.

00:20It's called Section 312.

00:22It has been used before,

00:24but it has always been minor,

00:27corrective, and bipartisan.

00:32I mentioned earlier the adjustment that was made

00:34on a bipartisan basis

00:36to the Power Marketing Administration's numbers

00:41to return the CBO to an agreement

00:44that the Senate had previously made.

00:47That was not enormously consequential.

00:50This is almost certainly the first time

00:52you're hearing about it.

00:53Again, in 2023, as budget chair

00:58with Republican chair Jody Arrington on the House side,

01:02we made a $105 million adjustment to a dairy program.

01:07Today we're talking about trillions.

01:10This was a $105 million adjustment.

01:14Again, bipartisan, minor, and corrective,

01:18fixing a technical issue on a bipartisan basis.

01:21Last year, Speaker Johnson and Leader Schumer

01:25agreed to direct CBO to score a fee program

01:29with an OMB estimate,

01:31and they used this rule again,

01:35collaborating on a bipartisan basis

01:38with a matter that was minor and corrective.

01:42Well, this is different.

01:44This is trillions.

01:46And Republicans are using this rule

01:49to pretend that it's not.

01:52Well, there are lots of ways to look at who's right.

01:55Time, obviously, will tell.

01:58But this bill actually has a tell right in it.

02:03Page 754 of this bill

02:08is the reality check

02:10on whether or not they're running up

02:13the debt by trillions.

02:15We know they're running up the debt by trillions

02:19because they say so in this bill.

02:23You can play Senate procedural fakery.

02:27You can wave magic wands around numbers all day long.

02:31But someday, soon, you hit reality.

02:35And you hit reality in the real world of markets

02:39and selling treasury bonds

02:41and having a legal debt limit.

02:45If this did not raise the debt by trillions,

02:49they would not need to raise the debt limit by trillions.

02:54Here is the text.

02:56Subtitle C, increase in debt limit.

03:01Section 72001, modification of limitation

03:04on the public debt.

03:06The limitation under Section 3101B of Title 31

03:09is increased by $5 trillion.

03:17They're dodging the parliamentarian's ruling

03:20by letting the budget chair

03:21make a trillion-dollar magic wand maneuver.

03:24because they know pretty darn well

03:27what the parliamentarian's ruling would be.

03:30And how do they know

03:31what the parliamentarian's ruling would be?

03:33Because the answer's in their own damn bill.

03:36I yield the floor.

03:38Would the senator from Rhode Island yield for a question?

03:42Of course.

03:43You mentioned the use of Section 312,

03:46which gives some flexibility to resolve,

03:48as you put it, minor issues on a bipartisan basis

03:52to correct an issue, a technical issue.

03:54In those cases you mentioned,

03:56were those on a reconciliation bill?

03:59Were they on a reconciliation bill?

04:01I don't believe they were.

04:02No, they were not.

04:03They were just...

04:03In fact, that power has never been used

04:06on a reconciliation bill

04:07because the following Section 313

04:10gets very specific instructions.

04:12It says each provision must be costed out

04:16for its impact on both outlays,

04:19the spending side, or revenue,

04:21should it be a revenue measure.

04:23And if you were saying,

04:25well, how do I do that?

04:26You say, well, if we pass this provision,

04:28what will it cost

04:29as compared to not passing this provision,

04:32not having the bill?

04:33That's a comparison to current law.

04:34This ability of the budget chair,

04:39and actually the law says the budget committee,

04:41to correct technical issues on narrow issues

04:45on a bipartisan basis,

04:47basically solve snarly little budgeting questions,

04:50like on the dairy program you mentioned,

04:53never used on reconciliation ever,

04:57never used on a broad basis ever,

04:59never used to create a lie

05:04about what a bill costs in this fashion.

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