'Republicans Now Are Suddenly Pretending They Can't Count': Patty Murray Mocks GOP's 'Magic Math'

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During debate on the Senate floor, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) spoke Republicans' Big Beautiful Bill, and tore into their budgetary process in drafting the legislation.

Transcript

00:00President. I recognize a senator from Washington State. I thank the senator from Oregon and our

00:04other budget chairs, ranking members from previous years, because this is really important.

00:11Mr. President, there are some things you can't change with legislation, despite what my colleagues

00:17on the other side of the aisle seem to believe. For example, one plus one is two, and while a

00:23trillion might have a lot of zeros in it, it is, in fact, a much, much bigger number. Now, that might

00:32sound obvious, but apparently my colleagues across the aisle need a little reminder, because right now

00:38Republicans are pretending not to get it. It is almost beyond belief, and it is certainly beyond

00:45common sense. After years of complaining about the debt, in fact, at the same time they're talking

00:54about how we need to address the debt, Republicans now are suddenly pretending they don't know how to

01:00count. Republicans are suddenly pretending the parliamentarian doesn't exist if they don't talk

01:08to her. Republicans are suddenly pretending that precedent doesn't exist if they just fake amnesia,

01:17and that norms and consequences for breaking them will just disappear if they wish it away really hard.

01:25My preschool students had more common sense. Republicans should know if they replace math with magic,

01:33if they tear up the Senate process, if they blow off the Senate parliamentarian, that bill will come due.

01:43And not just the bill for four trillion dollars blown on tax cuts for billionaires and corporations,

01:50the bill will also come due for trashing this Senate process and precedent when Republicans are no longer

01:59in the majority. Mr. President, if Republicans are serious about plowing forward with rewriting or ignoring

02:08Senate procedure and the laws of mathematics, I just ask, spare me the empty excuses. Spare me the

02:17explanations that totally ignore the reality of what you are doing. I mean, do they really think it washes away

02:24everything to say, oh, it's fine to break the process in half because we say it's fine. Oh, it's fine. We have

02:32the authority to ignore math. Give me a break. To every Republican who really thinks that is a convincing

02:39argument, to anyone who thinks we can is just an acceptable rationale for going nuclear and pretending

02:50the most expensive bill in the history of our country can be paid for by some magic bean counting,

02:59here is my challenge to you. Go back home and try that game with your constituents. Tell them,

03:07it's okay. Yes, the debt's going to be four trillion dollars, higher 10 years from now. That's true.

03:12But it's fine. We voted on it. And we get to say a trillion is actually zero. Go ahead. See how that

03:21works for you. And you may as well tell them you are voting against gravity next because that's just

03:26as reasonable. And don't forget, when you tell your families back home that trillions of dollars in tax

03:33cuts for billionaires and companies are free because you waved a wand or you said some magic words,

03:41don't forget to tell them, those are just tax cuts for the billionaires, not for working families.

03:49Don't forget to tell the folks back home, yeah, I voted to say a trillion dollars is nothing,

03:55but we still need to kick people off of their health care. That's just too expensive. We still

04:01need to close those hospitals. We have to cut costs. And we still have to kick people off snap

04:07because the debt is out of control. And don't forget to mention that, no, we can't afford child

04:13care. We can't afford paid family leave. We can't afford to solve your problems. Magic math is apparently

04:21just for billionaires. You all are getting less. Please, Republicans, send that message to your

04:27constituents. Just see how it goes over. Because you can fool yourself, but you are not going to fool

04:34the American people. They don't get to balance their budget with magic math. They don't get to

04:41pretend a trillion dollars is nothing. And they don't get to pretend that this bill is free.

04:48Because at the end of the day, regardless of what policy baseline you all want to use in D.C.,

04:55those families back home, they are the ones who will be paying the actual cost. I yield back to the

05:02Senator from Oregon. I yield to a question. I would. In the time that you were budget chair,

05:07did you ever contemplate a situation in which you argued that renewing a tax break that was by law

05:15expiring would somehow have no impact on the deficit? To my friend from Oregon, I never would

05:21have contemplated and I never would have put it forward. And I happen to know that if I had have

05:25suggested that, that my Republican colleagues would have been all over me telling me that breaks the

05:31rules. Thank you.

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