La frase, de la expresidenta de la Cámara de Representantes Nancy Pelosi, es famosa en Washington: “En el Congreso aprobamos las leyes, y luego ya nos las leemos”. El sábado pasado, Chuck Schumer, líder de la minoría demócrata en el Senado de Estados Unidos, invirtió el orden de los factores al forzar, en una maniobra de dilación parlamentaria, que unos sufridos empleados de la Cámara alta leyeran en voz alta en el hemiciclo durante 15 horas las 940 páginas de la versión revisada y publicada poco antes de la medianoche del viernes de la polémica “ley grande y hermosa”.
00:00On this vote, the yeas are 50, the nays are 50, the senate being evenly divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative, the bill as amended is passed.
00:11Mr. President, it's been a long road to get to today. More than a year ago, groups of Republican senators and staff began meeting to lay the groundwork for extending tax relief for hardworking Americans if we were given the opportunity.
00:32Mr. President, voters gave us that opportunity. And since we took office in January, Republicans have been laser-focused on achieving the bill before us today.
00:42With this legislation, we're fulfilling the mandate we were entrusted with last November and setting our country and the American people up to be safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
00:55In one fell swoop, Republicans passed the biggest tax breaks for billionaires ever seen, paid for by ripping health care away from millions of Americans, taking food out of the mouth of hungry kids.
01:08This is not a big, beautiful bill at all. That is why I moved on the floor to strike the title. It is now called The Act.
01:20Republicans bent and twisted and pushed the rules and the norms of the Senate to get this bill done, and they have done grave damage to this chamber when they did it.
01:33All just so they can pass tax breaks for billionaires.
01:39Today's vote will haunt our Republican colleagues for years to come. As the American people see the damage that is done, as hospitals close, as people are laid off, as costs go up, as the debt increases, they will see what our colleagues have done.
01:57And they will remember it. And we Democrats will make sure they remember it. The American people will not forget the betrayal, the betrayal that took place today.
02:10I yield the floor. Note the absence of a quorum.
