Katherine Clark: Big Beautiful Bill 'Kicks 17 Million Americans Off Of Their Health Care'

At a House Democratic press briefing, Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) slammed the Big Beautiful Bill.

Transcript

00:00thank you mr. leader and good morning this week we will celebrate our nation's independence we

00:11will celebrate our freedom the fact that we are not ruled by a king but that the power belongs

00:20to the people we will celebrate the fundamental promise of the American dream the idea that if we

00:28work hard we can provide for our families we can have a life of dignity a fair shot so it's especially

00:39shocking that the Republicans are rushing to sign this cruel bill by the 4th of July the largest cut

00:49to health care in our history the largest transfer of wealth from working families to the billionaire

00:57class a bill that makes Americans sicker and poorer a bill that takes food from the hungry there is no

01:06freedom in this bill unimaginably this bill is worse than when it left the house it cuts Medicaid by one

01:18trillion dollars it kicks 17 million Americans off of their health care it threatens hundreds of hospitals

01:29with closure along with a quarter of all nursing homes it hikes the cost of electricity it hands a 3% pay

01:40cut to hard-working people of this country and hands their children five trillion dollars in debt does that sound

01:51like freedom to you or does that sound like a government of by and for the rich so who would vote for this bill

02:03bill why would David Valadea vote for this bill over 65,000 people in his district will lose access to health care if this

02:18passes 60,000 households will lose access to their food assistance and over 3600 energy jobs will be lost just in California

02:332022 but why would young Kim and California 40 vote for this bill either over 31,000 people in her

02:44communities will lose their health care and 15,000 households could lose access to food assistance why

02:54indeed but we've been told exactly where we stand the vice president said these cuts are

03:02immaterial Mitch McConnell says people will get over it Joni Ernst reminded us we're all gonna die

03:12anyway so a lot of time when most households are struggling to afford the basics Republicans have a clear

03:22message for American families you don't matter the people that power America are nurses are

03:32first responders our first responders our small business owners our veterans under this bill the

03:39Republican Party views you as expendable and that opportunity is reserved for the elite freedom isn't

03:49something abstract it's something you do it's something you empower people to do you cannot shackle

03:56shackle opportunity for the American people you cannot restrain their ability to be free and then drape

04:04yourself in the American flag on Independence Day so this fourth of July House Democrats are going to

04:14stand in unity with millions of people across this country we are going to do what Americans have done for

04:23250 proud years we are going to defend our freedom we will defeat its enemies and we will put the power

04:33with the people and now it is my great pleasure to welcome ranking member of energy and commerce Frank Pallone

04:45Hooray!