'It Is The Cruelest Bill': Frank Pallone Takes Down The Big Beautiful Bill

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At a House Democratic press briefing, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) slammed the Big Beautiful Bill.

Transcript

00:00Frank Pallone.

00:04Thank you, Catherine.

00:06I just want everyone to understand

00:08why we as Democrats are so mad about this bill.

00:12Because it's cruel.

00:13Some people have called it beautiful.

00:15Some have called it ugly.

00:16I call it cruel.

00:17It is the cruelest bill that I've ever seen

00:20since my tenure in the House of Representatives.

00:22Now, why is that the case?

00:23Because so many people will lose their health insurance

00:26and because of the lack of affordability

00:29that's going to increase costs in so many ways

00:31for the average American.

00:33Look, the bottom line is every time this bill moves forward,

00:36in Energy and Commerce,

00:3713.5 million people lose Medicaid.

00:41And then it goes to the House floor, 15 million people.

00:44Now, the CBO says, the Senate bill,

00:4717 million Americans lose their health insurance.

00:51And what happens when they lose their health insurance?

00:53The hospitals have uncompensated care.

00:56The nursing homes have uncompensated care.

00:58And they have to push those costs on to everyone else.

01:02And so premiums go up, co-pays go up,

01:04and people cannot afford their health insurance.

01:07The same thing is true with the ACA.

01:09You know, we as Democrats started years ago

01:12trying to make sure that so many Americans

01:14that didn't have health insurance did.

01:16That was what Obamacare was all about.

01:18And then we enhanced the tax credits and the subsidies.

01:21So we got up to something like 95% of Americans

01:24had health insurance because of what we did.

01:27But this is reversing that completely.

01:29It is reversing that completely.

01:32Because the average person now,

01:34without enhanced Medicare,

01:35without the ACA enhanced subsidies,

01:39which they did not include in this bill,

01:41they could easily go from paying $100 a month

01:45for their ACA coverage, $1,200 a year,

01:47to something like $5,200

01:49because they lose that $4,000 subsidy.

01:53So I just want to say one more thing.

01:55I know the Republicans are saying constantly

01:57that nobody's going to lose their health insurance

01:59if they work.

02:00That is a complete lie.

02:02That is a complete lie.

02:04If you look at this bill,

02:06whether you're disabled,

02:07whether you're caring for an elderly,

02:09whether you're caring for your children,

02:10you are not going to qualify for the exemptions,

02:13and you are going to lose your health insurance.

02:16And the same thing is true

02:17with regard to affordability

02:18for the energy provisions.

02:20We worked very hard to move towards clean energy

02:22because we knew it would be cheaper,

02:24and they're getting rid of it.

02:25We worked very hard

02:26to have environmental protections in place

02:28because we're worried about people's health and safety,

02:31and they get rid of

02:32all the major environmental protections.

02:34That is what the Republicans are about.

02:36Cruelty.

02:37This is unacceptable.

02:38No one should vote for it.

02:39It's the cruelest bill that I've ever seen.

02:42And now I'd like to introduce

02:43the chairman or the ranking member

02:45of our Ways and Means Committee

02:47to talk to you about the tax issues.

02:49Richie Neal from Massachusetts.

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