Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
  • yesterday
During Senate floor debate on Sunday, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) ripped into the Senate GOP's version of the Big Beautiful Bill and procedural efforts.
Transcript
00:00Would the senator from Maryland yield for a question?
00:04I will.
00:05I found it very interesting that you pointed out that these tax provisions for the middle class,
00:11no tax on tips, is phased out.
00:14And no tax on overtime is phased out.
00:17And what you're saying, I believe, is that when they put into this bill that a tax break is ending,
00:25they're saying that it doesn't cost any more in the following years.
00:31So they are certainly saying that their current policy baseline that they want us to make believe about
00:39would say that this wouldn't cost them.
00:43In other words, if they extended this, it wouldn't cost anything.
00:47It is interesting to note, not only does that expose the fraud behind the current policy baseline,
00:54but they made a very deliberate choice.
00:58Even though they now say that they can make these tax cuts permanent and still comply with the rules,
01:04they decided to make the tax cuts for very rich people permanent.
01:09But even though they say it's not going to cost anything anymore to provide tax cuts with no tax on tips,
01:17they're phasing those out.
01:18And there are other, all of these areas are where President Trump made promises
01:23that he was going to take care of some working people.
01:26Well, man, those go way fast.
01:29Tax cuts for the rich, they go on for not just the full 10 years,
01:32but they keep going, which is why this is a violation of the entire reconciliation process.
01:36So I find two things very interesting.
01:38They're saying if something was in the law that they passed in 2017 and it expires,
01:46they're pretending it doesn't expire and therefore extending it doesn't cost anything.
01:51But in their own bill, when they say a provision expires,
01:54they say, no, it really does die and therefore we're saving money in the years after.
01:59How is those two things possibly consistent?
02:03Clearly they're not.
02:05I mean, this is literally magical thinking.
02:07This is why Republican Congressman Schweithart called this,
02:12or Chip Roy called this fairy dust
02:14and why the Congress from Arizona said this was pure intellectual and economic fraud.
02:22That's what it is.
02:23That's the bottom line.
02:25Well, I really thank the senator from Maryland also pointing out
02:27that President Trump, he did, when he was campaigning,
02:31say he was fighting for ordinary families.
02:34But at his inauguration,
02:35who did he have standing behind him?
02:38Not champions for health care or champions for housing,
02:42certainly not champions for nutrition or education,
02:47but in fact a series of like five or six billionaires.
02:51And now you're telling me that in this bill,
02:53and I want to make sure the American people understand this,
02:55the provisions that were sweeteners to say we were helping working people
03:00are being phased out,
03:02but they're keeping all the tax breaks for billionaires.
03:05Well, you're right.
03:06You know, it was right down this hall, actually,
03:08that President Trump was sworn in,
03:11and he said it was going to be a new golden age for working people.
03:15Well, as you're pointing out,
03:18and this chart clearly shows,
03:20and their own budget reveals,
03:22it's clearly a golden age for billionaires and people who make a lot of money.
03:26And in this bill,
03:28they make sure that that golden age for very rich people goes on forever.
03:33They had a few little crumbs that they were throwing for a little while,
03:37we can see,
03:38to others,
03:39but just for a little while
03:40in just small amounts compared to the golden age for the billionaires.
03:45Well, I must say my impression is,
03:49and I hope you'll correct me if I'm wrong,
03:52is that the Republicans are embarrassed
03:56by the fact that they're proposing a bill
04:00that creates over $3 trillion in debt in 10 years,
04:03and over $30 trillion over 30 years,
04:06and that the vast bulk of it goes to billionaires,
04:08and so they want to say,
04:09we're so embarrassed,
04:11because we mentioned fiscal responsibility
04:14when we were running for office,
04:16we're going to get the budget under control,
04:18and they're doing the opposite,
04:19and they're embarrassed that they're doing this,
04:22these cuts in programs
04:23to fund tax breaks for billionaires,
04:25cutting regular health care,
04:2816 million people losing health care
04:30for tax breaks for billionaires,
04:32that as you point out,
04:33go on and on and on,
04:35actually permanent.
04:36For Paul, I would certainly love to yield
04:40to my colleague from Rhode Island.
04:42When I was budget chairman,
04:45and we were trying to focus, for instance,
04:48on the impending economic nightmare
04:52coming our way through climate-caused
04:55property insurance failures,
04:56what I would get
04:58is nonstop regular lectures
05:01from Republicans on the Budget Committee
05:03about how we had to take responsibility
05:05for the deficit,
05:07we had to reduce the debt,
05:09nothing else mattered as much,
05:11it was absolutely vital.
05:13And now, of course,
05:13we see that at their very first shot,
05:16with the power to do anything
05:17through their majority
05:18and using reconciliation,
05:21they're raising the debt,
05:22they're raising the deficit,
05:24and not by little,
05:25but by trillions.
05:26And I'm wondering if,
05:28in your time as chairman,
05:29or perhaps in Senator Murray's time
05:31on the committee,
05:33or perhaps in Senator Van Hollen's time
05:37over on the House Committee,
05:38you were favored with
05:39such constant lecturing
05:43by Republicans
05:44about the debt and the deficit
05:46and how credible that all seems right now.
05:49I'll yield Senator Murray.
05:50I thank the senator for his question
05:53because it's just stunning to me
05:55that the vast majority of debate,
05:58in fact, all the debate
06:00that came from Republicans
06:01at the time I was chair
06:03of the Budget Committee
06:04trying to put forward
06:05a smart budget
06:07for the United States of America,
06:09the only thing they talked about
06:10was debt and deficit.
06:12The only challenge they made to us
06:14was debt and deficit.
06:15The only time we tried to do anything
06:18for child care,
06:19for health care,
06:20they threw the debt at us.
06:22So it is pretty stunning to me
06:24that now that they need to raise the debt
06:28for giving tax breaks
06:30to the very rich people
06:31who stood behind the president
06:32at his inauguration,
06:35then they play with the numbers
06:37and pretend it's not real
06:39and a trillion all of a sudden becomes zero
06:41and I'm using some rule
06:43you've never heard of
06:44to try and pretend that this isn't real.
06:46It's fairy dust.
06:50I just want to say
06:52to answer the question
06:53from the senator from Rhode Island
06:55and pick up on what my colleagues have said
06:57that when I was the senior Democrat,
06:59the ranking member
07:00on the House Budget Committee,
07:02Paul Ryan was the chairman
07:04of the committee.
07:05And look,
07:06we disagreed on many things.
07:08We agreed on many things.
07:09We both agreed
07:10that we should get our deficits
07:12and debt under control.
07:13We had different ideas
07:14on how to do it.
07:16He wanted to privatize Medicare.
07:18We wanted to close tax breaks
07:20for the rich.
07:21But we wanted to close tax breaks
07:23for the rich.
07:24But the reality is
07:25that the holy grail,
07:27I mean,
07:28the only guiding North Star
07:31for Republicans at that time
07:33was we've got to bring down
07:34deficits and debt.
07:36This is not
07:37that Republican Party.
07:39Not in any way,
07:42shape,
07:43or form.
07:44They clearly don't give a damn.
07:45In fact,
07:46they are worried,
07:47as we can see,
07:48that the American people
07:50still care,
07:51which is why they want to
07:52engage in this
07:53fraudulent scheme.
07:55But I'll just close on this.
07:55I remember one of those years.
07:59I think it was the,
08:00I believe it was the 2012
08:01Republican Convention.
08:03They even put up a debt clock.
08:05They put up a debt clock
08:06at the convention.
08:08I can't find it.
08:09Right?
08:09I'm looking under my desk
08:11for the debt clock here
08:13because Republicans
08:14seem to have hidden it away
08:16forever.
08:17They want to wish it away.
08:19That's what they're telling us.
08:21But the bill
08:22actually is required
08:24to raise the debt limit
08:26by $5 trillion.
08:30So in reality,
08:32there's a huge hit
08:34to our debt,
08:35huge additions
08:36to our deficit,
08:37and it makes me
08:39a little bit frustrated
08:40to think back
08:42to all those lectures
08:43that I had to receive
08:45as budget chairman,
08:47which the Center
08:47from Maryland witnessed
08:48as a longtime member
08:49of the Senate Budget Committee,
08:50which the ranking member
08:53witnessed in his time
08:54on the Budget Committee,
08:55and which Senator Murray
08:56experienced when she
08:58chaired the Budget Committee.
08:59We have been lectured
09:00to death
09:02by our colleagues,
09:04and at the very first instance
09:08when they had the power
09:09to do something about it,
09:10they went 180 the other direction
09:12and are cranking
09:14the national debt
09:16in order to give
09:17big benefits
09:18to the rich people
09:20who fund their campaigns.
09:22And the Center
09:22would be here for a question,
09:23and I know we need
09:24to move on here.
09:25I just want to add one thing.
09:26It's not just
09:27that it's going to be debt.
09:29It's the cost to families
09:31because this debt
09:32they are putting in place.
09:33I would ask the chair
09:35of the Budget Committee now,
09:36as he knows,
09:36as I do,
09:37people's houses
09:38are going to cost more
09:39because their mortgage interest rates
09:40are going to go up.
09:41Their car's interest rate
09:42is going to go up.
09:43This is not just magic numbers
09:45sitting out there
09:45pretending they're not being.
09:47Real families are going to feel
09:48the cost of this debt
09:50and this deficit.
09:51I really appreciate that point
09:52with my colleague
09:54from Washington State
09:55because in this bill
09:57it creates so much
09:59necessitated borrowing
10:01that CBO estimates
10:03that that borrowing
10:04will cause interest rates
10:06to go up.
10:07And when interest rates
10:08grow up for the Treasury,
10:09it goes up on your car loan,
10:11on your adjustable rate,
10:12a mortgage on your house,
10:13and just in general,
10:15these are costs
10:17that are borne
10:18by ordinary families.
10:21And I find it very interesting
10:23because the Republicans
10:24were demanding
10:25what they called
10:26the dynamic score,
10:28saying,
10:28well, won't these cuts
10:29produce such a great economy
10:32that it will kind of lift all boats
10:34and produce more revenue
10:36and maybe the deficit
10:37won't be as bad.
10:38Here's what Congressional Budget Office
10:40found.
10:41Again, that's the nonpartisan,
10:43honest broker numbers.
10:44They found that because
10:46of the interest rates rising
10:49as a result of this massive
10:50sea of red ink
10:51that necessitates massive borrowing,
10:55that in fact,
10:56those rising interest rates
10:57will hurt the economy.
10:59So there's no dynamic score
11:01that produces,
11:03oh, well,
11:03it isn't so bad after all.
11:05No, it's the opposite.
11:06And in fact,
11:07that dynamic argument
11:08has always been wrong.
11:10And we are looking
11:11at the folks
11:12who lectured,
11:13my colleague from Rhode Island,
11:14and I sat through
11:14many of those lectures as well,
11:16and I went,
11:17in my head,
11:18I went,
11:18wait a minute,
11:19aren't these folks
11:20who did the massive
11:21ocean of red ink
11:22in the 2001 Bush tax bill?
11:25Aren't these the same folks
11:26that produced
11:27a massive ocean of ink
11:29in another tax bill
11:30two years later?
11:31Aren't they the same ones
11:32that in 2017
11:33did a massive ocean
11:35of red ink,
11:36and now they're doing it again?
11:37How could they possibly
11:39be putting themselves forward
11:40as deficit hawks
11:42or debt hawks?
11:43Not to mention
11:44that they cheered on
11:45two adventures
11:47that were a huge tragedy
11:49for the United States of America,
11:51trying to occupy Afghanistan
11:53and going to war
11:53in Iraq,
11:54which together
11:55added $8 trillion
11:56to our debt.
11:59And,
12:00if you take a look
12:01at this chart,
12:02every time
12:03there is a Republican
12:04administration,
12:05the last deficit
12:07while they're in office
12:08compared to their
12:08first deficit
12:10goes up.
12:11For Clinton,
12:12it went down.
12:13That's fiscal responsibility.
12:14For George W. Bush,
12:16first term,
12:17it went up.
12:18For Obama,
12:19it went down.
12:19In other words,
12:20the Democratic presidents,
12:23time after time
12:24after time,
12:25Clinton,
12:25Obama,
12:26Biden,
12:26they reduced the deficits
12:28while they were in office,
12:29and the Republican presidents,
12:31while they were in office,
12:32every single time
12:33increased the deficits.
12:35So,
12:35none of us
12:36want to hear
12:37any more talk
12:38about fiscal responsibility
12:39from across the aisle.
12:40You want to be
12:40fiscally responsible?
12:42Vote no on this bill,
12:43because this bill
12:44takes and fires
12:4616 million people
12:48off of health care
12:49to finance those tax breaks
12:50for billionaires.
12:52This bill
12:53says 4 million children
12:54will go hungry
12:55to finance tax breaks
12:57for billionaires.
12:58This bill
12:59is families lose
13:01and billionaires win,
13:03and the debt
13:04goes up,
13:05endangering our ability
13:06to do basic programs
13:08for the entire
13:08next generation.
13:09It is wrong
13:11on every count.
13:12And I think collectively,
13:14we urge our colleagues
13:15to honor the argument
13:17they've made over time
13:18that, in fact,
13:19they were concerned
13:20about the deficit.
13:21They were concerned
13:22about American families.
13:23Because if you are
13:24concerned about the deficit
13:25and debt,
13:26if you are concerned
13:27about families,
13:28you must vote no
13:29on this bill.
13:30Thank you,
13:30Mr. President.

Recommended