During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about the rescissions package that Senate Republicans voted for early Thursday morning.
00:00Last night, while Americans were asleep, Senate Republicans gutted critical funding for local TV and radio, for foreign aid that keeps America safe, all to keep paying for their billionaire tax cuts.
00:16On the very same day that communities in Alaska turned to public radio and TV for tsunami warning updates, Republicans in Washington voted to take that funding away.
00:28It is senseless, it is cruel, and just defies common sense.
00:34The Republicans have become the party of cut, cut, cut now, ask questions later.
00:42Cut health care for 17 million Americans, cut food assistance for hungry kids, cut good-paying energy jobs, let Beijing get ahead of us.
00:51Never mind the kids will go hungry, or that families will lose insurance, or that people will get sick and die.
00:59Make no mistake, make no mistake.
01:02Just like with the big ugly bill, the more Americans learn about what Republicans just did in this rescission package, the more they won't like it, and the more Republicans will squirm.
01:14We saw a lot of squirming last night.
01:15When parents see Republicans just axed educational programming, when people see Republicans just axed Sesame Street to pay for tax cuts to billionaires,
01:27when rural Americans see Republicans not just betrayed them and defunded public radio,
01:33sometimes the only source in rural areas so vital to natural disasters, and it's the only news source there,
01:44the consequences will be severe.
01:47Americans will remember.
01:49Democrats will ensure that they don't forget.
01:52We will make sure Americans don't forget what Republicans are doing,
01:56just like we are doing with the big ugly bill.
02:00Just like these taxes for billionaires.
02:03Just like these massive Medicaid cuts.
02:06Last night's voting, last night's vote, axing PBS, axing local TV, will haunt Republicans as the damage sets in.
02:17Today, tomorrow, next month, next year,
02:21Americans will be talking about these cuts at their diners, at the grocery store, at dinner, at the park,
02:28because the cuts will be felt everywhere.
02:32Because here's what Americans don't want.
02:35They don't want Republicans to rubber stamp Doge's awful and damaging cuts.
02:41No questions asked.
02:43Republicans never seem to challenge Donald Trump or Doge.
02:48Or vote.
02:49When you cut investments that actually make people's lives better,
02:54when you cut those investments, like health care, local TV, education, people get angry.
03:00So make no mistake.
03:02When Donald Trump and Republicans rammed the big ugly bill through,
03:06Americans quickly saw how Donald Trump and Republicans betrayed them,
03:10and their popularity is already declining.
03:13When families saw the consequences, when Americans saw the Medicaid cuts,
03:17when kids are getting food ripped from their mouths so billionaires can pay less in taxes,
03:24it is disastrous for Donald Trump and many Republicans.
03:27And we saw that on many faces across the aisle last night,
03:30who didn't want to do what Trump wanted them to do,
03:34but were forced into it because of threats or frailty or fear.
03:39Well, the same thing has happened as I speak, as I speak.
03:47Democrats are fighting in the Appropriations Committee to unwind the awful Doge cuts against veterans.
03:54And that's what's happening to our veterans.
03:56And that's just what's happening to our veterans through these Doge cuts.
04:01What's happening to them is terrible.
04:03Our veterans, these are the people who volunteered, who risked their lives.
04:08Many of them came back with injuries and PTSD.
04:12And when they get to the veterans' hospitals, because there have been such cuts,
04:15their care is inadequate.
04:17They risked their lives for us, and Republicans and Trump and Doge cut veterans' health and veterans' care.
04:26It's outrageous.
04:29Outrageous.
04:30And they're doing it.
04:32We've got a lot of verbiage.
04:33Oh, we love our veterans.
04:34And then they cut what our veterans need and want.
04:39The meeting today in the Appropriations Committee shows that there's a way Republicans can undo
04:46these awful Doge cuts.
04:50Reversing Doge cuts through the Milcon Appropriations Bill today is a direct rebuke to Donald Trump.
04:58It's saying to Trump, we don't like what you did.
05:02But we'll see if Republicans come along.
05:06If they will defy Trump and vote to undo the Doge cuts.
05:13It's simple.
05:14Republicans have a choice to make as we move forward.
05:20They can put their constituents over Trump and work with Democrats to continue funding the government
05:26in a responsible way.
05:28Or they can continue to go it alone and continue to bow in obeisance to Donald Trump
05:35and rubber stamp his awful cuts that harm, that do such harm to our Americans in uniform.
05:42And if they go it alone, without undoing the terrible things that Doge did, here and elsewhere,
05:56Democrats will make them pay a price, just as we have made them pay a price on reconciliation.
06:00Republicans can continue to bow in obeisance to Trump and rubber stamp whatever cuts he tells them to make.
06:11But you can't just push these awful cuts farther and farther down people's throats and not expect them, the people, to respond.
06:21Republicans, for their own good and for the good of the country, need to be careful about making so many devastating cuts so quickly
06:29and just on a party-line vote in reconciliation, in rescission, and whatever else they might come up with to avoid the process.
06:39And if Republicans keep going down this road, if they choose to ignore the bipartisan process, if they keep reneging on funding agreements reached in committee,
06:48if they prefer to strike deals with Donald Trump and Russell Vogt, to use impoundment rescissions and pocket rescissions to cut whatever they want on a party-line vote,
06:58the harms to the American people will be devastating.
07:03It will be devastating in health care.
07:05It will be devastating to our farmers.
07:07It will be devastating to our veterans.
07:09It will be devastating to the millions of people who are promised jobs and health care and clean energy.
07:16It will be Americans back home who will see even more cuts as they proceed on this road, if they do.
07:25More cuts to housing, more cuts to education, to research, to economic development.
07:30It will be our farmers who see their costs go up.
07:33It will be our small businesses who get taken advantage by special interests and by erratic tariff policies.
07:40The consequences for this chamber and our country will be stark, very stark, indeed.
07:47The consequences for this chamber and the consequences for this chamber.
