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Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, let me begin this morning with a sobering headline from the New York Times. Times headline: ``Millions Would Lose Their Obamacare Coverage Under Trump's Bill.'' That is exactly what Democrats have been warning about for weeks.
What Republicans call their Big Beautiful Bill is really repeal and replace by another name. It is really repeal and replace by another name. It is a big beautiful betrayal, not a big beautiful bill.
Yesterday, we learned that the devastation potentially has only worsened. The nonpartisan CBO has now grown the number of impacted Americans to 16 million. Sixteen million will lose their Medicaid and ACA coverage.
So the more you look at this bill, things keep getting worse, because CBO now says that not 13.7 million would lose coverage but 16 million. The number of impacted people grows the more you look at this bill.
Things keep getting even worse. We learned yesterday the news that Republicans may want to even go after Medicare. Medicare is on the chopping block. That is right--at yesterday's lunch, Republicans raised the possibility of Medicare cuts to pay for their billionaire tax cuts.
The junior Senator from North Dakota reportedly said:
Why don't we go after that? I think we should.
For Republicans to even suggest Medicare be cut to bankroll billionaire tax breaks is frightening and revolting.
There is more. The junior Senator from Louisiana said:
I'm not worried about people losing their healthcare.
Do you know what happens when people lose their healthcare, when they can't afford it? People die. But what do Republicans have to say about that? Well, the junior Senator from Iowa said this:
Well, we're all going to die.
That quote tells you everything you need to know about this plan-- callous, clueless, careless. That is right--this plan is callous, clueless, and careless. But that is the Republican Party for you these days. They don't get it or, more likely, they don't care--just so long as billionaires can pay less in taxes.
Republicans should forget calling this gargoyle of a bill their Big Beautiful Bill. They might as well call it the We're all Going to Die Act after what the Senator from Iowa said. At least that name is more honest, the We're All Going to Die Act.
Donald Trump may claim this bill won't cut anyone from coverage, but he is lying. Sixteen million people will lose coverage, and 11 million people will lose affordable food. Costs will spike, hospitals will close, and people will die. And why? For a tax break for billionaires.
Now, let me finish with this on a separate note. In order to make the ultrarich even richer, their bill, according to CBO, would add over $2.4 trillion to the debt. Even Elon Musk calls this thing an ``abomination''--his word.
As the saying goes, a broken clock is right twice a day. The Republicans pride themselves as the supposed party of fiscal responsibility, but this bill they have belongs on the Mount Rushmore of fiscally irresponsible bills.
So I close with a warning to Republicans in the Senate: If you proceed with this ``Big Ugly Bill,'' this big betrayal of the American people, it won't be Donald Trump's soothing words that will be enacted in your States but, rather, deep and devastating cuts, millions of job losses. You will rip healthcare from millions, you will explode the debt, and you will shower billionaires with tax breaks. That is what you will be doing no matter what Donald Trump tells you on the telephone, I say to our Republican Senate colleagues. Tread carefully. Tread carefully.
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