[Pages S3294-S3295]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         One Big Beautiful Bill

  Mr. President, on reconciliation, Republicans continue their tortured 
effort to ram Donald Trump's ``Big Ugly Betrayal'' through Congress. In 
the

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last few days, Senate Democrats have made the argument that the House 
Republican bill does not meet the requirements for privilege, and now 
Republicans have conceded that that is true. So the bill will have to 
be changed by House Republicans so it can meet privilege requirements.
  This presents those Republicans who say they don't like parts of the 
bill with an unexpected opportunity. Now they have a chance to stand up 
and vote for their constituents. Speaker Johnson will try to rush a 
package of technical changes through the House to fix their mistakes. 
Every House Republican, though, now has a chance to reassert their 
leverage and force the bill back to the drawing board until they secure 
the changes they want. They say they don't like parts of the bill. Now 
is their opportunity to change it--no more ducking. They have their 
vote, and House Republicans, who claim loudly that they don't like 
parts of the bill, should use it to protect their constituents from the 
awful results of this horrible betrayal bill.
  Now, Mr. President, let's talk about the costs of the so-called Big 
Beautiful Bill and why every American is going to pay a lot more. Trump 
ran by saying he was going to fight inflation. He is passing a bill 
that is going to increase American costs.
  Last week, Senate Democrats zeroed in on the way Donald Trump's ``Big 
Ugly Bill'' will rip away healthcare from tens of millions of 
Americans, at least 16 million Americans in total--no healthcare.
  This week, Senate Democrats will focus on how Donald Trump's bill 
will kill millions of jobs and send costs spiking for tens of millions 
of families. If Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill passes, Americans 
will pay thousands more out-of-pocket for everything from healthcare to 
energy to even their mortgages.
  It is not just cutting Medicaid; Republicans are taking a meat 
cleaver at the ACA too. Under this bill, the average healthcare costs 
for people on the ACA will go up $700 a year for over 20 million 
Americans. For New York families, it is much worse. New York couples 
covered through the ACA will pay $2,700 more a year--that is about $230 
a month--$2,700 extra for New Yorkers just to make life better for the 
billionaire class. And it is not just Americans who have ACA who will 
see costs go up. If you have private insurance--if you don't even have 
Federal insurance or ACA--you could be paying hundreds more a year too.

  Just about everyone's healthcare costs are going to go up. People 
don't like paying that high cost to health insurance, but they are 
going to pay more because of Donald Trump and what he wants to do to 
help his billionaire buddies. All the while, while that is happening, 
hundreds of thousands of healthcare jobs will be lost, with some 
projections estimating 850,000 jobs will be lost in the healthcare 
economy while billionaires get more tax breaks.
  Here is another fact: We are talking a lot about energy and clean 
energy and the cheapest way to produce new energy. Well, if the Big 
Beautiful Bill--so-called--becomes law, the average family's energy 
costs will go up $400 in the upcoming years. Starting next year, 
average electricity prices will go up by 10 percent.
  Hear that, America? You don't like it when your utility bill goes up? 
Well, Donald Trump and his rightwing ideologues are making it go up 
further because Donald Trump and the oil magnates he hangs around 
harbor a deranged hatred of clean energy, and they want to raise taxes 
on clean energy. Clean energy is the cheapest way to produce new 
energy. Solar is cheaper than any other way, and they are cutting it 
off, and that is going to raise your price on the cost of your energy 
bill, ladies and gentlemen, all Americans.
  What is more, in addition to raising your energy prices, what they 
are doing is projected to cost our economy an additional 800,000 jobs. 
Between healthcare jobs and energy jobs--millions of good-paying jobs 
to be killed by the bill--some economists I have spoken to say the job 
losses could push us into a recession.
  Even many Republicans know this would be destructive, but they need 
to speak up and use their leverage. Republicans who claim to fight for 
jobs and families back home should oppose any proposal that makes 
energy costs go up.
  It is amazing. Here, even Trump and his people say we need a lot more 
new energy for AI, et cetera, and then they cut off the quickest, 
cheapest, easiest way to produce new energy. Why? Because the rightwing 
fossil fuel magnates in Trump's ear hate clean energy because they know 
it is the future. They know. They know that oil, gas, and coal are not 
the future, and, yet, they try to kill it.
  Also, if the Republican bill becomes law, homeowners could see an 
extra $600 to $1,200 a year through higher interest rates on their home 
loans.
  Last week, the CBO estimated that the Republican billionaire tax cuts 
would add $2.4 trillion to the debt over the next decade. When you 
consider the cost of increased debt service, this rotten bill will add 
$3 trillion to the debt over the next decade, and that is going to make 
it harder for Americans to buy a home, to buy a car, to start a 
business--dooming the middle class to a lifetime of higher rates.
  And let's not forget the insurance prices as well. Insurance rates 
are going up for many people in many areas, particularly coastal areas, 
and now this Trump bill will make that worse because we are cutting off 
clean energy. It doesn't make much sense. Many people can't sell their 
houses or buy a house because flood and tornado insurance have raised 
the cost of insurance. And here we go again: cut off clean energy, make 
it worse, make people's insurance costs go up further.
  So Elon Musk, as wrong as he is on so many things, says this bill is 
dangerous. Do you hear that, Republicans? Elon Musk, whom you guys are 
supposed to love, says the bill is dangerous.
  So, when you step back and look at the big picture, there is nothing 
beautiful about the Republican bill. If Senate Republicans pass this 
heaping pile of legislative junk, it is not going to grow the economy; 
it is not going to help the middle class; it is not going to help 
working families climb the ladder. All it is going to do is make 
families pay more while billionaires pay less.