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Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, over the past few days, Donald Trump has bent over backwards to try to sell his so-called Big Beautiful Bill with a new lie. He said no one will lose healthcare coverage. He says no benefits will be slashed. He says the bill won't harm a single recipient. He is lying. This is all total nonsense, and Senate Republicans need to reject Donald Trump's snake oil sales pitch.
I implore my Senate colleagues, tread carefully with your Big Beautiful Bill. If you pass this bill, it won't be Donald Trump's soothing words that will be enacted in your States but, rather, deep and devastating harm to your constituents. And your constituents, Senate Republicans, will hold you responsible for going along with Donald Trump's ruse.
If you go down this road, he will take away coverage from kids, from seniors, from parents, from moms. You will put doctors and nurses out of work. You will put rural hospitals in particular jeopardy since they depend on Medicaid, Medicare, and government help to stay going. They are often the biggest employer in your rural counties, Senate Republicans. They are often the only source of healthcare.
When Americans see this is all to make the ultrarich even richer, they will know that it was this nasty bill that made it happen.
Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill is repeal and replace by another name. Here are the facts:
Under the bill, over 14 million would lose healthcare coverage. As bad as this bill is, we just got news that it will get even worse. CBO today will announce that it is not 14 million people kicked off but more--estimates as high as 15 million.
The Republican bill will kick even more people off healthcare than we originally thought--not only by attacking Medicaid but by destabilizing the ACA, private insurance, and now even Medicare--even Medicare.
So this bad bill is getting worse. The estimates of how many people will lose their healthcare coverage goes up and up and up each time we read the fine print. The closer and closer people look at the bill, the worse and worse it gets.
Tens of millions of Americans who otherwise qualify for healthcare would be mummified in new redtape, shortened enrollment periods, higher premiums, and weaker coverage. People would fall through the cracks and get phased out of coverage altogether in the coming years. It is death by a thousand paper cuts, and that is no accident; that is the intention of the Republican bill.
And let's talk about fraud. Donald Trump says, well, it is just knocking out fraud. Democrats would love to work with Republicans to eliminate fraud and waste in healthcare, but the bill Republicans have right now does not accomplish that. It is aimed at real people--real people who need healthcare, taking that away. This Big Beautiful Bill uses the fraud boogeyman as an excuse to kick people out of healthcare who would otherwise qualify, including people with jobs, including people with kids.
The only fraud happening right now is the fraudulent sales pitch coming from Donald Trump and his statement that he won't boot anyone from coverage. That is the fraud here. The fraud is the lies Donald Trump is telling Republicans about this bill, that people won't lose coverage. That is a lie. That is the fraud. Republicans should know that and reject this awful Big Beautiful Bill before it is too late.
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