Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer spoke Monday morning in opposition to the “Big, Beautiful” budget reconciliation package Republicans are trying to pass by the end of the week. Debate abd votes on amendments is starting today.

SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER: Today, Senate Republicans have to decide-decide, choose: the American people, or bow down to Donald Trump and his coterie of billionaires. Because this bill, as we have said for months, steals people’s health care, jacks up their electricity bill to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. For months-can we have order, Mr. President?-all month, Senate Democrats have put this bill on trial in the court of public opinion. We’ve exposed how it steals Medicaid from more than 16 million Americans. We’ve exposed how it takes away food benefits for millions of hungry kids. We’ve exposed how this bill increases the debt by $ 3.5 trillion to bankroll billionaire tax breaks. We’ve shown how this bill increases the debt $ 1 trillion more than the House bill. We’ve shown how this bill cuts Medicaid even more than the House bill. We’ve shown how this bill kills climate jobs even more than the House bill. With every rewrite, Senate Republicans have made their bill more extreme, more pro-billionaire, and more hostile to people’s health care and livelihood. Why did they do that? There’s a small group on that side of the aisle-MAGA hard-right wingers-who are dictating what’s happened. And all the rest on the Republican side, who know it’s wrong, go along. A small group-they don’t represent more than 10% of the American people-but they’re dictating what this body does, (a) because of the rules we have-a simple majority-but (b) because our colleagues on the Republican side lack the courage of their convictions to do the right thing for the American people. It’s outrageous. Cutting people’s health care, causing people to get sicker and to even die. Cutting people’s health care so that it’s certain, almost, that more people will die-just to give tax breaks to billionaires. It is so destructive for Republicans to pass a bill like this at a time when people pay more for groceries, when people pay more for rent, pay more for child care, pay more for medication. It makes no sense to reward the billionaire class and special interests at the expense of everyone else. Look, there’s nothing wrong with being wealthy, but they don’t need another tax break. And they certainly shouldn’t get a tax break by taking food from the mouths of hungry children. How outrageous. How cruel. How mean. How heartless. How uncaring-all to help the billionaires to whom they’re enthralled. And no surprise-make no mistake about it-many Republicans themselves don’t seem all that happy about the bill in front of them. We heard what our colleague from North Carolina had to say about this bill. My guess is about half, maybe even more than half, of the Republicans in the Senate totally agree with him. But he had the courage to speak the truth-the backbone to speak the truth. But not our other colleagues. Senator Tillis spoke candidly. He was one of the few truth-tellers on the other side. The bill devastates his state. But make no mistake about it-it will devastate the state of almost every Republican here. And year and month, week after week, month after month, year after year-when this bill passes-the tragedies will be all over their states. People losing their jobs. People’s costs going up. People losing health care. Hungry kids not getting food. It’s a piece of legislation that Tillis can’t sell back home-and you won’t be able to either, my Republican colleagues. How can any senator go home and tell their constituents, ‘I’m sorry, I took away your health care because I wanted to give tax breaks to billionaires.’ And yet, Republicans are dead set on walking off a cliff by passing a bill they know will be ruinous to their own constituents.

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