'Most People Hate This Bill': Chuck Schumer Absolutely Torches The Big Beautiful Bill

Forbes Breaking News

In Senate floor remarks on Saturday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) slammed the Big Beautiful Bill.

Transcript

00:00Mr. President, I want the American people to understand exactly what's happening right

00:16now with Senate Republicans and their so-called Big Beautiful Bill.

00:23Senate Republicans are trying to pull a fast one on the American people.

00:28For weeks, they've struggled with the reality that most people hate this bill.

00:35Leadership has struggled to secure votes among their own ranks who know how bad the bill is.

00:41And now they've scrambled to meet an entirely arbitrary deadline.

00:46So what did the Republicans do late last night?

00:49Hard to believe this bill is worse, even worse, than any draft we've seen this far.

00:57It's worse on healthcare.

00:59It's worse on SNAP.

01:01It's worse on the deficit.

01:03At the very last minute, Senate Republicans made their bill even more extreme to cater to

01:11the radicals in the House and Senate.

01:15Republicans are about to move forward with a radical thousand-page bill just made public

01:21in the last several hours without knowing how many trillions it will cost.

01:28They don't even want to know a CBO score.

01:30They're afraid to show how badly this will increase the deficit.

01:36On this bill, a major bill that affects every part of American life, the bill hiding the

01:42CBO scores in defiance of their own promises to cut the debt.

01:47Deficit hawks out there on the Republican side in the House and Senate.

01:52This bill makes the debt worse and the deficit worse, even worse than before.

02:00Generations, future generations will be saddled with trillions in debt.

02:06Debt is abstract.

02:07But what does it mean for the average American?

02:10Raising your costs.

02:12Raising your costs to buy a home.

02:14Raising your costs to buy a car.

02:17Raising your costs on credit card bills.

02:19And why are they doing all this?

02:21Why are they doing the biggest Medicaid cuts in history?

02:24Now it's getting close to a trillion dollars just in Medicaid alone.

02:30All to cut taxes for the ultra-rich and special interests.

02:38And they did it while most Americans were asleep.

02:42It is astounding that this is the product Senate Republicans have come up with.

02:48Because for weeks, they kept saying they were somehow going to strengthen Medicaid.

02:54That they'd moderate, quote-unquote, the House clean energy cuts.

02:59That nobody would lose benefits.

03:01Well, all of that has gone out the window.

03:05Those supposed moderates on the other side are falling like dominoes, ready to move on

03:10a bill that does precisely the opposite of what they claim.

03:17Many Republican senators have admitted they're not happy with this bill.

03:21One said it will take away health care from working people.

03:25And yet there's still a yes on this bill.

03:28If Republican senators are not happy with this bill because they know how badly it hurts

03:32their constituency, they should vote no.

03:38After all, they're United States senators.

03:42They have the power to vote however they want.

03:44Did they forget that was an option?

03:47Are they all so afraid?

03:50That they can't do what they know is the right thing for the American people?

03:55Just incredible, incredible.

03:59After weeks of hemming and hawing from Republicans, the bill they are ready to proceed with is the

04:04most extreme version of their bill yet.

04:09I guess when push comes to shove, leave it to Republicans to cave to their hard right flank.

04:17Under this draft, Republicans will take food away from hungry kids to pay for tax breaks

04:23to the rich.

04:24All the data shows Democrats don't like it, independents don't like it, and Republicans

04:29don't like cutting SNAP, taking food away from kids all to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy.

04:36The SNAP cuts, and I'm sure we'll hear from Senator Klobuchar shortly, are every bit as

04:43bad as in the House, the worst in history ever.

04:48Those cuts are cruel.

04:51Those cuts are un-American.

04:53But it's what Republicans are getting ready to do.

04:56Meanwhile, Medicaid, where they've had so much controversy and back and forth, Medicaid will

05:03be fed to the sharks under this bill.

05:07In fact, we just got the news that CBO said the Medicaid cuts in this version are worse

05:12than any version of the Republican bill to date.

05:17Nearly a trillion dollars in cuts.

05:21Just to Medicaid alone.

05:22And there are more cuts for ACA and Medicare.

05:27Let me repeat.

05:29This version of the bill cuts nearly a trillion dollars in Medicaid alone, worse than any version

05:36we have seen so far, $930 billion to be precise.

05:42And that does not count the many billions and billions and billions more in cuts to ACA

05:47and Medicare.

05:48Far worse.

05:49Far worse than anything we have seen so far.

05:55The tiny tweaks that Republicans made to provide to the provider tax will still decimate state

06:03budgets and do nothing to protect hospitals in the coming years.

06:08What about the rural hospital fund Republicans have spent the last few days touting?

06:12It's a drop in the bucket.

06:14This rural hospital fund is a fig leaf.

06:17It's like putting a Band-Aid over an amputation and sending the patient home.

06:22When the rural hospitals start closing, just remember the residents of those hospitals,

06:29the people who work in those hospitals, it's because of these cuts and no other reason.

06:37Rural hospitals, many of them will close.

06:39This Band-Aid ain't enough to cover even a small percentage of them.

06:44And health care costs will go up for everyone, even if you don't have Medicaid, even if you

06:50don't have ACA, even if you don't have Medicare.

06:53Your private insurance will go up dramatically, dramatically, every month.

07:02People hate paying those health insurance premiums.

07:04They're going to pay a lot more under this bill.

07:08And why are they doing all this?

07:09Why are they doing all this?

07:11We know why.

07:13Tax breaks for billionaires.

07:16Tax breaks for billionaires.

07:20And now, let's talk about another subject.

07:24The clean energy changes Republicans made last night.

07:27Frankly, I don't think even most Republicans realize just how radical these last minute

07:33changes are.

07:35They are drafted to do one thing, to kill all wind and solar.

07:40All wind and solar.

07:42Solar, the cheapest, the cheapest way to produce new energy, the quickest way to produce new

07:49energy.

07:50We need more energy.

07:51AI is going to take up a lot of energy.

07:54If we don't have new sources of energy, all new sources, guess what?

08:00People's electricity bills will go up and up and up.

08:05When it comes to clean energy, they basically, the Republicans basically reverted and somehow

08:11exceeded the extreme policies that came out of the House for days.

08:17They worked to modify those provisions, many Republicans, to make them less bad.

08:21Now they're made even worse.

08:26And these are policies, by the way, plenty of Senate Republicans said they were going

08:29to change.

08:31Under this new draft, clean energy projects in wind and solar will now need to be placed

08:36in service.

08:37In service, not begun, in less than two years from now in order to qualify for a tax break.

08:45And the provisions related to Chinese involvement, which of course we want to fight against China,

08:51but the best way to fight against China is have a robust solar energy, solar industry.

08:58China is going to run the whole solar industry for the world.

09:02And if you think they're not going to make Americans pay more as Chinese customers pay less,

09:06forget it.

09:08But anyway, on the provisions related to China, they made them almost unmanageable.

09:15It's going to kill nearly every wind and solar project out there, because the standard is

09:20laughably unrealistic.

09:23What does it mean?

09:25Projects already in the works will shut down.

09:30It means that people will lose their jobs, it's estimated 840,000 jobs, add that to the

09:39health care jobs, wow.

09:44Americans will pay hundreds of dollars extra a year on electricity as soon as the next year.

09:49Thanks to the Senate Republicans caving in to big oil, it will be China, not the United

09:54States, that will likely become the world leader in energy production in the years to come.

10:00Self-destructive, needless, harmful to both our economic and national security.

10:06And it just shows how tight big oil's grip is on Senate Republicans.

10:11Remember, 80% of these clean energy investments, my colleagues, have gone to Republican districts.

10:18The investments support, as I said, over 800,000 jobs.

10:23Republicans are so beholden to the fossil fuel industry, they'd rather kill jobs in their

10:28own communities than upset the big oil lobby.

10:31Disgusting, shameless, and done, of course, while most Americans were asleep.

10:39So again, Republicans are trying to pull a fast one on the American people.

10:45Republicans are pulling a fast one even on their own members, and certainly on their own

10:49constituents.

10:51This will hurt the reddest of states badly.

10:54If Republicans proceed, Senate Democrats will hold them to account.

11:00We'll gear up for another night of Voterama very soon.

11:03We'll expose this bill piece by piece.

11:06We will show how it cuts healthcare, raises costs, rewards the ultra-rich.

11:10We welcome this debate.

11:12And if Republicans succeed, proceed, and follow Donald Trump over the cliff, with this bill

11:18tied to their ankles like an anvil, they will not only doom their own communities, they will

11:25doom their political fortunes, their own political fortunes, and have no one to blame but themselves.

11:32I yield the floor.

11:34Note the absence of a quorum.

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