H. Con. Res. 14
Floor Speech
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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise in strong opposition to our colleagues' budget, the Republican budget, the Trump budget and plan where billionaires win and families lose.
We are voting on this budget resolution because our colleagues are once again telling us whose problems they are focused on solving, and-- spoiler alert--it is not the problems of everyday Americans. Two-thirds of these tax cuts go to billionaires.
After an election where the American people sent a clear message that they were concerned about the high price of essentials like healthcare, my Republican colleagues are focused on another round of tax cuts for billionaires. This proposal gives the top 0.1 percent of income earners a new tax break worth an average of $180,000. It gives a $50 million tax break to Elon Musk over the next 10 years. That is right--10 years, $50 million. I bet a lot of Americans would like that, but it is going to Elon Musk. And it pays for it by threatening the healthcare of 80 million Americans, including 31 million children.
This is not what Americans signed up for when they voted. I have heard this from constituents. I know because some of the people who--a number of them, a lot of them--voted for Donald Trump and me--what did they want? They wanted us to work on costs. They wanted us to bring down the cost of groceries and bring down the cost of healthcare, bring down the cost of everything from housing to childcare. They wanted us to stand up for them. Instead, we get this billionaire tax scam bill.
So let's talk about Medicaid. It is not maybe the first word on everyone's minds when they wake up in the morning because sometimes people don't know that Medicaid is helping their parents and their grandparents pay for their assisted living.
In my case, I knew that my dad was in assisted living that was paid for by his savings--he had late-onset Alzheimer's--and I knew the exact day when that savings would run out. He got married three times. That is another story. But he had limited savings, and the savings would get him through a certain date, and then Medicaid would kick in. That was the date when he was going to actually have to move, and I found another place for him.
He actually died a year before that happened. We miss him every single day. But I knew that Medicaid was there for him when those savings ran out, that he had a place to go. It might not have been the place that he had been at for a few years, but it was a place that was safe for him.
Medicaid provides healthcare for 20 percent--one in five--of the people in rural Minnesota, and it provides the long-term care for one out of two--50 percent--of the people in my State who are in long-term care. It is pretty important.
About 2 weeks ago, I went on a 14-county tour in rural Minnesota. I went to a number of senior facilities and assisted living facilities and heard their stories. So many of them needed Medicaid. But this partisan budget would force rural hospitals to shut their doors, and it would be particularly dangerous for people with chronic conditions and families caring for a child with a rare disease--all to pay for more than $2 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthiest people in our country.
Slashing Medicare and Medicaid would devastate families across our country. These are programs that millions of people rely on, like our neighbors, like our parents, like our grandparents. This is real, and I think people know that. They understand that.
I think about a constituent from Inver Grove Heights, MN, who told me that Medicaid helps her to afford the cost of her father's memory care. She said:
I'm not sure what we will do if we cannot receive this benefit.
I think about what I heard from another constituent--a working mom of two--whose parents rely on Medicaid for healthcare. She told me she doesn't think it is fair to shift the cost of care to families like hers to pay for tax cuts to the wealthy.
You know, that is the incredible thing about democracies: People write in, they send emails, they call our offices, they show up at townhall meetings, and they tell us what they think.
In this email, she said:
We need to draw the line and say this is enough.
I couldn't agree more.
Today, the day has been a really hard time. I was on a TV program earlier, and there were a lot of major Wall Street traders--Jim Cramer--who are experts on Wall Street, and they talked about what a devastating day this has been. This was actually the toughest day, the biggest tumble the stock market has taken since 2020 in the pandemic. But this was not a pandemic. This was not a global pandemic. This was a self-inflicted wound from the President of the United States, and it, sadly, affected people not just on Wall Street but on Main Street.
We call this the Trump tariff tax, TTT. Easy to remember: Trump tariff tax. Estimates are now, based on the announcement made yesterday, that this is a $4,000 tax per average American family; it is a $20,000 additional fee on every single home that someone wants to buy--that is the average; thousands of dollars for a car. Why? Because our supply chains are forever integrated with the rest of the world. We get stuff from Canada.
We were able to see four of our colleagues stand up and vote with all Democrats to say that the basis for the Trump tariff tax on Americans, based on Canada, was wrong.
And we actually made a statement last night, and then what happens? We see the effects of the Trump tariff tax: 4 percent down in the stock market. Some of it is 5 percent down.
The Republican budget doubles down on this because while we are seeing this assault on Americans' savings and on average American families who work hard every single day, we are also now hearing about a budget that would add, in 30 years, $37 trillion to the debt--$37 trillion to the debt--while cutting Medicaid.
Why do I say that? Because in order to meet the targets that were outlined over in the House, the Congressional Budget Office, which has long been nonpartisan--used by Democrats and Republicans in Congress-- has made it clear that this would have to involve cuts to Medicaid. Add that to the firings at the Department of Health and Human Services that will undercut health services and research.
I just met with a man this weekend from a small town right close to Brainerd, MN, whose wife had just died in January. In order to figure out the death benefit, what he got under Social Security, he first emailed. He is very much with it at age 79. It took too long. On and on. He called--hours and hours. He went into the office. He drove 30 miles. He was asked to show his ID online. It went on and on and on for days, until he called our office, and we got involved and tried to help him--a man who is grieving, who just lost his wife. That is what these cuts are going to mean for regular people.
Yes, it is a disaster for Wall Street, but it is more of a disaster on Main Street.
For decades--and here is one example--Big Pharma companies had a sweetheart deal written into law that allowed them to charge seniors whatever they wanted for lifesaving prescription drugs. Along with many of my Democratic colleagues, I led the bill to have, finally, Medicare negotiations under Medicare Part D.
What happened? The last administration took this on, the top 10 drugs--everything from Eliquis, to Januvia, to Xarelto, to Jardiance. They finally negotiated the prices and negotiated prices for those 10 drugs--which went down 60 percent, 70 percent--and will save 9 million seniors $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in just the first year alone. No one has refuted these stats because this was the negotiation.
Now this torch, this incredible effort to finally bring down pharmaceutical prices, has been passed on to this administration. They have been given 15 drugs--that is the next allotment--including Ozempic, to negotiate the prices down for seniors. They also have to do it the year after that and the year after that.
There is no sign, based on testimony in the Health Committee, based on what we have seen out there, that they are going to have the wherewithal to do this. I hope they do, but there is no sign that they are going to do this.
I see that Senator Welch just entered the Chamber. He was the lead author on this bill in the House of Representatives and understands exactly what I am talking about.
That is an example, when you look at Medicaid and the use for, yes, children with disabilities, kids throughout our land, but also our seniors for nursing homes and assisted living, then you look at Medicare and how important that is, then you look at the progress we have made on things like prescription drugs--all of these are on the line at the same time Americans have seen the biggest drop to their savings, the biggest drop to the stock market, a self-inflicted wound, a reckless act based on things that Donald Trump has said to his--I don't know--the people he hangs out with, his friends.
Well, the people that voted for him in my State did not sign up for this.
Instead of building on our progress, Republicans are driving up costs by not standing up on these tariffs--although four of them did--on Canada, by not standing up when it comes to this assault on programs for our seniors, like Medicaid.
This is unacceptable, and we should not be here advancing policies that are going to force more Americans to have to choose between filling their prescriptions and putting food on their table. Too many Americans struggle with the cost of healthcare. Instead of looking out for billionaires, let's look out for them.
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