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Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague Senator Welch, the great Senator from Vermont, for shining a spotlight on Donald Trump and the Republicans' attack on healthcare in their so- called Big Beautiful Bill.
Let's be honest about what the Republican bill really is. It is repeal and replace by another name--not one fell swoop but death by a thousand papercuts.
They are afraid to say they want to kill healthcare, Medicaid, ACA; so instead, they put so many barriers in the way that, in effect, they are doing the same thing.
They are doing the same thing with Social Security.
We have all heard how this bill will devastate Medicaid. It is the largest cut in history. Every day you learn more about this bill, it gets worse. It includes over $1 trillion--$1 trillion--in healthcare cuts--cuts to the ACA, even cuts to Medicare. We have been learning that Medicare will be hurt as well by the sequestration.
And today, if you didn't think it could get worse with this ``Big Ugly Bill,'' it sure did. The CBO just announced that their bill will kick millions more people off their healthcare than we originally thought, not only by attacking Medicaid, but by crippling the ACA private insurance and even Medicare now.
Yesterday, it was 13.7 million people who would lose coverage. Today, it is as high as 16 million. You know, that is a big number, 16 million. It is families; it is people who need healthcare; people whose kids might have cancer and they are desperate to get something done; elderly who are paying so much for medicine, they can't afford to go to a doctor to see if the medicine is working; families that are just starting out and maybe someone lost his or her job. Yes, 16 million, but that is each person, a family, a group.
The more you look at the House bill, the worse it gets. Enrollment times will be shortened by an entire month. Wait times will be longer for everyone at the hospital. And 22 million people--22 million people--could see their average premium go up by an average of 93 percent. Small business owners--3.3 million--will see their premiums skyrocket. Hospitals, nursing homes, health centers are all at risk.
I have been at nursing homes in many parts of my State. Guess what? They are all afraid they are going to close because 60 percent, 70 percent of their income is Medicaid. That is how they take care of the elderly. And those people will lose their coverage and be forced to leave because the nursing home will close.
Well, how about those 45-year-old couples with three kids? They have no extra room in the house and Mom has to come back because she has no place to go; and there won't be adequate healthcare there at home.
And job loss. Job loss on this ``Big Ugly Bill''--this betrayal-- 850,000 will lose their jobs in healthcare alone, another 800,000 in clean energy, and many, many more. Millions are losing their jobs.
I don't know what the economists would think, but when you lose 2 million jobs, if that is the case, you are right on the edge of a recession, if not in one.
And despite all this, Donald Trump has the gall to lie and say that his bill wouldn't harm Americans' healthcare. He says no one will lose coverage. Ladies and gentlemen, people of America, Donald Trump is lying. The bill will kick people off their healthcare coverage. It will slash healthcare benefits. It will close rural hospitals. People will get sicker and die.
What did the junior Senator from Iowa say?
Well, we are all going to die.
How about the junior Senator from Louisiana?
I'm not worried about people losing their healthcare.
It shows the callousness of the Republican Senators when it comes to healthcare. They don't seem to care. They seem to say ``Tough luck.''
Republicans should forget calling this their ``One Big Beautiful Bill.'' You know what the new name for this bill is, a more suitable name? The ``We're All Going to Die Act.'' The ``We're All Going to Die Act'' because that just about sums up how callous they are being with the American people.
For many Americans, healthcare is the difference between life and death. Democrats will fight this bill with everything we have. The American people deserve to know the truth.
And one more point. I would say to my colleagues, Donald Trump is selling you Republican colleagues a bill of goods: It is not going to hurt anybody. Don't believe his false words because when you vote for this bill, the effects will actually occur, and the public will realize what you have done. So don't let Donald Trump sell you a bill of goods. We know he makes things up out of the clear blue all the time. He is doing it now. And when he calls you in and tells you that no one is going to be hurt, no one is going to lose coverage, you know that is a crock of you-know-what. I can't say it here. Don't listen to him because your constituents will pay an awful price in healthcare. And they will know you did it.
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