[Pages S3663-S3675]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

H.R. 1

Mr. KELLY. Mr. President, what are we doing here? Seriously. I am
still waiting for somebody to tell me how this makes sense. We are
debating a budget that gives another round of tax cuts to billionaires
and giant corporations on the backs of everyday Americans. And it also
adds trillions of dollars to our national debt.
That doesn't make any sense to me. And it doesn't make sense to the
Arizonans that I have been hearing from in every corner of our State.
If you grew up in a household like mine where money was tight, you
would know that budgets are about priorities.
I can still picture my mom sitting at the kitchen table trying to
figure out which bills to pay. You take the money you have, and you put
it where it is needed. This budget clearly tells the American people
who President Trump and Republicans in Washington think need help.
If you are a billionaire, it says: We have got your back.
But if you are a parent trying to provide for your family, a senior
in a nursing home, or a child who counts on school for your only hot
meal, you are on your own.
This isn't about balancing the books. It is about picking winners and
letting everyone else fall behind. And who loses? It is the Americans
working two jobs, raising kids, caring for elderly parents, and just
trying to stay afloat, because if you grew up in a family like mine,
you also know how hard people work to reach their American dream--the
promise that if you work hard, your kids will get a good public
education, you will be able to put food on the table, you will be able
to go to the doctor and stay healthy, and your kids will be able to
grow up and achieve their own American dream.
This promise is already getting harder, and it is getting more
expensive. We need to be working together across the aisle to ensure
that everyone who works hard can have a brighter future. But that is
not what my Republican colleagues are doing with this bill.
The plan that they are jamming through right now will put the
American dream out of reach for more families. And for what? To hand
out more tax breaks to people with more wealth than they could spend in
10 lifetimes.
Now, I have spent the last several months traveling across Arizona. I
have been to our big cities Phoenix and Tucson. I have been to small
towns like Clarkdale and Sierra Vista--talking to Arizonans face-to-
face, listening to their stories, hearing what it would mean to them if
Medicaid, food assistance, and other essential services got cut for
them and their families.
What I have heard is clear: This budget is going to make it harder
for them to stay afloat, let alone get ahead.
In Clarkdale, I met a guy named Christian. He is a rural hospital
nephrologist. That is a kidney doctor. And he told me that his
patients--many of whom rely on Medicaid for dialysis--are now
considering stopping treatment altogether because they might not be
able to afford it. He said:

Financially, none of the patients I serve can pay out of
pocket. It's a choice of either massive debt or death.

That is the reality to many rural communities.
Another woman told me about her friend, a survivor of two car
accidents and a spinal injury. Her friend relies on Medicaid to help
her deal with her chronic pain. Without it--meaning Medicaid--she said
that her friend might end her life because the pain is unbearable.
She asked me to deliver this message to my colleagues. She said:

This is not a country that can't afford to care for people
like her. We can afford to care for everyone--if we change
our priorities from giving tax cuts to billionaires to taking
care of Americans who are in pain every day.

People across Arizona are pleading with us to get our priorities
right.
In Sierra Vista, I hosted a Medicaid townhall, and that is where I
met this woman named Tara. She told us how she was once a single mother
and how programs like Medicaid and SNAP helped her raise her kid and
build a stable life. Today, she works a good job. She doesn't rely on
these programs anymore, but here is what she said:

I'm deeply concerned about the proposed cuts to Medicaid,
SNAP, and related programs. I know firsthand that they don't
just help families--they're often the only path to stability.

Just last week, I was in Tucson where I live--where Gabby and I
live--helping distribute school lunches at a local high school. It is
actually the high school that my wife went to. And I wanted to see
firsthand what these summer meal programs mean for Arizona families.
These programs are funded through the United States Department of
Agriculture, and they rely on data from SNAP and Medicaid to identify
the children who need them the most. If this bill passes, a bunch of
these kids that I served--I think it was last weekend--they won't be
eligible for these programs anymore. It will be harder for them to
access school meals which, I think we all know, compromises their
academic performance.
That is the real cost of this legislation. It is not numbers on a
spreadsheet. It is hunger. It is illness. It is fear. It is a bunch of
folks who work really hard doing everything right, and they are still
going to get punched in the gut.
And it is not just what I hear in person. My office gets hundreds of
letters and phone calls every week from Arizonans. People are scared,
and they want us to listen.
I want to share some of their voices.
Frank is a veteran on dialysis. He called this week, and he said:

The food bank and my SNAP benefits are the only way I eat
right now. I can't work. I'm not old enough to retire, and
I'm dipping into my retirement early just to keep up with my
mortgage. Without this help, I don't know what I will do.

Veterans should never have to say those words in this country. One of
the most sacred promises we make to the men and women who serve is that
we will take care of them when they return home. That promise doesn't
end when they hang up the uniform.

It includes making sure that they can afford food, access healthcare,
and live with some dignity. And yet here is Frank--sick, struggling,
and wondering how he will survive because the programs he relies on are
under threat.
Cheryl from Tucson, who is a 59-year-old widow, said:

[[Page S3664]]

I receive Disabled Widow's Benefits, Medicaid, Medicare,
and SNAP.

Get this. She said:

My rent and utilities eat all but about $300 of my monthly
income. SNAP and my healthcare card used to cover most of my
food costs. I used to have about $40 left over to buy some
extra groceries for the unsheltered in my area.

So here is a woman with $40 extra, and she is helping other people.
She also says:

Now, buying food for my household takes all of it. I'm
scared. If I lose even one of these benefits, I'll lose the
grip that keeps the roof over my head.

Karen from Scottsdale has worked for over 25 years helping veterans
and people with disabilities. She wrote:

Many of the people I work with rely on Medicaid because
they can only work part-time or because their employers don't
offer benefits.
Cutting them off will just make healthcare more expensive
for everyone. The rich do not need an extension on tax cuts
at the expense of low-income and middle-class families.

These are my constituents. These are folks who, unprompted, took time
to write or call their Senator. And every single one of them is saying
the same thing: We are barely holding on, and we are scared this is
going to put us over the edge.
Now, I wish I could say that these stories were met with compassion
by everybody here. But, instead, one of my Republican colleagues
apparently said:

They'll get over it.

And another, when asked whether cutting Medicaid would cost lives,
said:

Well, we are all going to die anyway.

Now, I didn't come here to throw jabs. I am repeating those words
because they reveal how this budget was written without any connection
to the real-world consequences. This isn't about politics. It is about
people.
So I ask again: What are we doing here? Who do we serve? Is it people
like Tara and Cheryl and Crystal and Frank who are working hard and
doing everything right to just try to get by? Or is it a bunch of
billionaires who have already made it and who don't need another
handout?
If my colleagues don't believe me, I urge them to go read some of the
emails and listen to some of the phone calls that they are getting.
Maybe hold a townhall, listen to those folks, really listen to what
they are saying. Don't crush their American dream. Don't rig the system
even more against them. Don't take a vote just because it is easy.
We can do better for the people we serve. Mr. President, they deserve
that from us.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wisconsin.
Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise today in disbelief. That may sound
a little cheesy, but at the end of the day, I fundamentally believe in
public service. I believe it can be a force for good, a force that
gives people opportunity, a force that is people-powered, that can lift
our neighbors up and instill hope, a force that meets the toughest
challenges of our constituents. And that is why I am struck with
disbelief.
Disbelief because if you believe these things like I do--which I
would argue most of my colleagues here do--why would you be jamming
this bill through?
At a time when Wisconsin families are asking us to take on the high
cost of living and let them have a fair shot at success, Republicans
are raising costs and making an already unfair tax system even worse.
My Republican colleagues are not using their time and energy to go
after greedy corporations, not to lower the cost of housing, and not to
expand access to affordable healthcare. But, rather, they are, instead,
forging ahead with a bill that will kick millions of Americans off
their health insurance, jack up prices for care for millions more, and
literally take food off the tables of hungry families.
Look, I was on the same ballot as Donald Trump last year. I heard the
same concerns from my constituents that he did. Families needed some
breathing room.
My Republican colleagues often say that this President's victory gave
him a ``mandate.'' Well, then, the President and I got the same
mandate: to lower costs and give people the opportunity to live a
steady and comfortable life. But in response, the difference could not
be more stark. I am actually working to do something about it, and this
bill--the landmark bill from this President and the Republican Party--
does just the opposite and will raise costs for families.
One of the biggest cost drivers I hear about is healthcare. Instead
of standing up to big drug companies to lower prescription drug costs
and instead of building on the Affordable Care Act to expand access to
healthcare coverage, this bill actually terminates coverage for
Americans. In fact, 17 million Americans will be kicked off either
Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act because of this bill. That is like
stripping healthcare coverage from the entire populations of Wisconsin,
Minnesota, and Iowa combined.
These aren't just numbers; these are people. They are people who have
stories, and they matter. I should know. After battling a childhood
illness, I became one of those Americans labeled as having a
preexisting health condition, and insurance companies were legally able
to deny me coverage. But because of the Affordable Care Act, we changed
that. We gave families like mine hope--hope that they can get
healthcare at a price they can afford and sleep well at night knowing
they have coverage.
Medicaid has given that same hope for generations to some of our most
vulnerable neighbors. But with this bill, my Republican colleagues are
instilling fear. When we talk about Medicaid, we are talking about the
elderly, people with disabilities, and children. We are talking about a
single mother of three who is struggling to make ends meet and so many
more.
I have traveled the State of Wisconsin from Superior to Racine, La
Crosse to Green Bay and everywhere in between, to hear from people who
will be harmed by this bill. I have come to this very floor to share
their stories, to try to help my Republican colleagues understand what
this bill will mean. But it is not just the folks who need Medicaid to
survive who are sounding the alarm. Take it from Dr. Abbigayle
Willgruber, a family medical resident in rural Wisconsin. She said that
this bill ``will deprive millions of Americans, particularly children,
seniors, and individuals with disabilities, of the care they need to
survive.''
She, continued saying:

These provisions will limit my ability to complete my job
to the fullest, will lead to worse outcomes for patients.

Or take it from Rosangela Berbert, the executive director of an
outpatient counseling center in the Fox Valley in Wisconsin, who said:

Without Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements or with
reduced rates, our nonprofit will struggle to survive.

She continued:

I would hate to consider cutting staff or programs, but
that could become our only option. We would lose the ability
to serve hundreds of clients--not because the need has
diminished, but because we could no longer afford to provide
care without reimbursement.

I have more and more of these stories from doctors, nurses, and
administrators on the ground who are spelling out the absolutely dire
consequences of this bill.
In Wisconsin, we are already in a crisis when it comes to getting
good healthcare in our rural communities. The system is broken, and
this bill is destined to make it even worse.
While healthcare is near and dear to my heart, there is more bad news
in this bill. Republicans' big betrayal will also take food
assistance--the literal means by which some people are able to put
nutritious food on the table--away from them. This bill will take SNAP
assistance--our Nation's best way to make sure that no one goes
hungry--away for more than 3 million Americans.
That leads us to the why. Republicans are making all of these cuts so
that they can rig our Tax Code, which I must say already is deeply
unfair to working families. They would further tilt it in favor of the
biggest corporations and the richest in our country.
The Republican bill gives people at the top one-tenth of 1 percent,
the richest of the rich, a tax cut of more than $250,000 every year--
yes, a quarter of a million dollars a year.
All the while, this bill hits working families the hardest. When
taking into account the disastrous Medicaid and

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SNAP cuts, many working families would see their annual incomes fall by
over $1,500.
It doesn't have to be this way. Yes, our system for taxes and
healthcare is broken, but this bill is not the solution. This bill
would make it harder for working families to have the opportunity to
get ahead, harder for parents to get their kids healthcare, and harder
for families to put food on the table.
We, Democrats and Republicans, should be working together to give
some relief to workers, but instead Republicans will choose to go it
alone and vote to give the biggest corporations and the wealthy another
unfair leg up.
I will end with this: While I remain in disbelief and, frankly,
disgust, I will always have hope. I have hope because it is not the
people in this Chamber with the power; it is the people. It is the
people who will sadly feel the repercussions of this bill. It is the
people who are rising up and will hold anyone who passes this
disastrous bill accountable. That is where the true power is.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Britt). The Senator from Hawaii.
Ms. HIRONO. Madam President, Democratic Senators have been on the
floor for hours today pointing out what is in this thousand-page bill
that took over 16 hours to read. I call it the thousand pages of pain
and the billionaires' gain.
It is bad enough that my colleagues have been on the floor talking
about how this bill is going to hurt people on Medicaid, taking food
away from our children and families through major cuts to the SNAP
program--healthcare, food, housing, energy support, you name it, the
pain is in this bill--but one of the areas that people don't know about
is that this bill actually has provisions that would take away support
for our public schools. Let that sink in. It is not enough that this
bill has a thousand pages of pain in just about every aspect of our
lives that you can think of, but now they are coming after support for
our public schools.
So today, I am rising as an advocate for the 49 million children who
are enrolled in public schools across our country. Nearly 90 percent of
K through 12 students go to public schools, including 95 percent of
children with disabilities. Yet we have a regime that is actively
working to end Federal support for public schools. We have a President
who tried to totally eliminate the Department of Education, and, sadly
for him, he can't do it through Executive order because only Congress
can do that. But they are doing a lot of other things that withhold
support for public schools.
So, as you know, Republicans in Congress are trying to undermine
support for public schools through the first-ever national private
school voucher program. Let that sink in--the first-ever national
private school voucher program. That is taking money away from public
schools and basically turning it over to private schools through a
voucher program.
So let's be clear. The school voucher program provision isn't about
money for schools; it is about even more money for billionaires because
they are the folks who are going to get the most out of this voucher
for private schools program.
Under this program, wealthy donors would receive large handouts for
supporting school vouchers. This is a Washington Post headline:

GOP voucher plan would divert billions--

Four billion a year--

in taxes in perpetuity to private schools.

So, specifically, the plan would provide a dollar-for-dollar tax
credit. We are not talking about tax deductions; we are talking about a
tax credit. This is money that comes right off your taxable amount. So
what this bill would do is provide a tax credit of $5,000 or 10 percent
of a taxpayer's adjusted gross income, whichever is greater. So a
taxpayer making $10 million--we do have people who make $10 million a
year--could contribute $1 million and receive a credit for that full
amount. How do you like that? You can get a million dollars off your
tax bill by contributing to this private school voucher program.
So rather than calling this plan what it is--and I tell you, the word
``scam'' comes to my mind; it is like scamming the public schools--
Republicans are deceitfully trying to sell this plan as an expansion of
school choice for families. Oh, isn't this voucher program great? More
families can send their kids to private school.
Here is the reality: Based on what we know about school voucher
programs, they do not promote school choice. Let me give you two
examples of why this argument does not hold water. For one thing,
school vouchers do not cover the full cost of private school tuition.
When was the last time anybody thought about how much private schools
cost? You know, schools in Hawaii--private schools can cost something
on the order of $15 to $20,000 a year, starting from kindergarten. A
voucher program will not support that full amount. That means that
families who want to send their kids to these private schools will have
to make up the cost difference. Well, how many middle-income, low-
income families will be able to exercise that choice to send their
child to a private school that costs that much?
Not only that, as we have seen in States that have passed voucher
programs, private schools often raise their tuition when they become
eligible for vouchers. Iowa is an example. After they approved vouchers
in 2022, private schools there increased their prices by over 20
percent for kindergarten and by over 10 percent for other grade levels.
Here is another example on this argument that this program promotes
choice. There are fewer private schools in rural communities. So many
families do not have access to private schools if they live in rural
communities. How does this expand choice for these families?

The reality is the majority of vouchers have gone to wealthy families
and to subsidizing school tuition for students who already attend
private schools. Under this bill, Republicans will make that even worse
by prioritizing scholarships for these students.
I am going to repeat that because not only is it bad enough that we
are going to divert all of this money, basically, to private schools,
but this bill actually has a provision that says people who will get
these scholarships are students who already go to private schools.
In Louisiana, for example, the 99 percent of voucher tax credits
there went to families with annual incomes above 200,000. In Virginia,
the number was 87 percent of vouchers in that State going to wealthy
families. In Arizona, it was 60 percent.
Americans have consistently rejected school voucher programs and
initiatives. Nebraska, Kentucky, and Colorado have all voted against
voucher programs within the last year.
In Nebraska, school vouchers were put on the ballot last November,
and they were soundly defeated for the fourth time. This is not a
Democratic or Republican issue. Nebraska is a red State. They voted for
a Republican President by a 20-point margin, and yet they rejected
school vouchers with 57 percent of the vote.
The bottom line is this: Vouchers take money away from public
schools, and Americans of all political stripes understand that.
According to All4Ed, over two-thirds of voters would rather increase
funding for public schools than increase funding for voucher programs.
That is not a new sentiment. In all 17 State referendums on school
vouchers since 1967, voters have rejected these programs.
While the Republicans in this Chamber may not give a rip about public
schools, the vast majority of Americans get it. Democrats, Republicans,
Independents alike support strengthening our public schools, not taking
money away from our public schools, because they know that strong
public education is fundamental to a strong country.
Well, undeterred by public sentiment, Republicans are trying to
create, as I mentioned, a nationwide school voucher program. It is not
enough that some States have voucher programs, but now the Republicans,
through this misguided, almost-thousand-pages-of-pain bill, want to
provide $4 billion per year for a private school voucher program, with
no accountability.
Remember, early on, I said that a huge percentage of children with
disabilities go to public schools. Well, private schools do not have
any responsibility to make sure that they are providing education for
children with disabilities. So there is no accountability.

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Let's just provide $4 billion per year, in perpetuity, in tax credits
for private school programs that have no accountability along these
lines.
We all know that this kind of funding could be used for rural and
low-income schools, for students with disabilities, for other programs
that actually support and strengthen public schools.
Instead, under the Republicans' plan, that funding would go to
wealthy donors who will receive large handouts, up to $4 billion a year
for supporting school vouchers.
Again, this plan will enable a taxpayer making $10 million a year to
contribute 1 million and receive a dollar-for-dollar credit for that
full amount. And even worse, the taxpayer could contribute appreciated
stock and avoid capital gains on their appreciation.
And there is all kinds of data on who owns stocks in this country,
and generally it is the people with a lot of wealth.
So this bill had a provision that enabled people to donate
appreciated stock so that they could escape capital gains taxes on that
stock contribution totally.
So this Republican voucher proposal, outlandish as it is, was briefly
delayed after it was deemed noncompliant with budget rules earlier this
week. Republicans remain undeterred. They have decided to plow forward
with a nearly identical plan.
When it comes down to it, this plan does not help students. It does
not promote choice. It does not support public schools, where the
majority of our kids go. We should be supporting our public schools,
not taking resources away from them.
So my Democratic colleagues and I will continue to fight to fund
quality public schools, to improve public education in this country--
foundational.
This voucher plan is yet another wrong-headed proposal that should be
called out for what it is: a handout for the wealthy at the expense of
hard-working American families.
I urge my colleagues to reject this idea.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
Mr. WARNOCK. Madam President, I rise tonight in our moral moment in
our Nation. As we debate this bill, so much is on the line. The
healthcare of over 16 million Americans--750,000 of them Georgians--is
on the line. Food for hungry children in a wealthy nation, where one in
five children are already food insecure. They don't know where their
next meal is coming from. Their livelihood, their welfare is on the
line. The well-being of seniors in nursing homes and the disabled who
rely on Medicaid and those who care for them is on the line. The fate
of rural hospitals in Georgia, in Alaska, in Louisiana, in little towns
all over this Nation that are right now barely hanging on is on the
line.
And the scraps that they are throwing them, while cutting them, will
not save them. And my friends on the other side of the aisle know it.
They know that these scraps that they are throwing at rural hospitals
will not save them.
And so in a very real sense, lives are on the line. We are in a moral
moment because something else is on the line. I submit that the
character of the country is on the line.
In a real sense, the question tonight is, Who are we? Not who we tell
ourselves we are, but who are we really? What and who do we care about?
What kind of nation are we? And what kind of people do we want to be?
Who matters, and who doesn't? Who do we think is dispensable?
And no place is the answer to that question clearer than in a
nation's budget. I submit that a budget is not just a fiscal document;
a budget is a moral document. Show me your budget, and I will show you
who you think matters and who doesn't.
And if this awful budget were an EKG, it would suggest that our
Nation has a heart problem and is in need of moral surgery.
And so I am clear tonight. I understand the nature of what we are
engaged in. This is a political process; it is. But it is also a moral
exercise, not only for the Nation but for each of us individually, and
especially for the mere 100 of us out of a nation of 300 million who
get to vote, perhaps in a matter of hours.
We have the rare privilege of standing up for people who have
entrusted with us the covenant of centering their families. It is a
real privilege for the people of your State to say that since we can't
all go to Washington, we are going to trust you in rooms of power to be
thinking about our children, to be thinking about our parents as they
deal with the blessings and the burdens of growing old.
And so the question for me tonight is, How will we will show up in
this moment? And that is why yesterday I gathered in the Russell
rotunda with a multifaith coalition of clergy to pray that lawmakers
might have the courage to stand up to their party, to stand up to the
special interests, and protect seniors in nursing homes and pregnant
mothers on Medicaid and children who risk going to school hungry every
single day in this country. One in five children in the wealthiest
Nation on the planet are already food insecure. And with these SNAP
cuts, this body is about to make it worse.
And so surrounded by clergy of many faith traditions, yesterday, I
prayed that we would have the courage and I prayed that we would have
the grace to stand as voices for the voiceless. And as I stood there, I
could not help but feel a sense of deja vu.
This is not the first time I have been in our Nation's Capital
speaking out against these policies that betray hard-working families.
It was 8 years ago almost to the day in 2017 when Washington
Republicans were trying to pass a tax bill that favored wealthy
Americans over working families that I came to this building, not as a
Senator but as a pastor. I had no idea that 8 years later I would be
serving in this body. I had no notion that I would even run for the
Senate. I came as a citizen.
And standing with a multifaith coalition, we were praying for our
Nation's leaders, and we were gathered in the rotunda of the Russell
Building. And, as we were singing and praying, the Capitol Police said:
I am sorry, pastors. You can't sing and pray in the rotunda. If you do
not disperse, we will have to arrest you.
And let me say that the Capitol Police did not mishandle us that day.
They were first-rate professionals. But they said that if you don't
disperse, we will have to arrest you. What they didn't understand is
that I had already been arrested. My conscience had been arrested. My
heart and my imagination--my moral imagination--had been arrested by
this idea that we, as a country, are better than this.
I come from a tradition where you don't just pray with your lips; you
pray with your legs. You put your body in the struggle for other
struggling bodies.
And so here I am tonight, 8 years later, having transformed my
agitation into legislation. I was arrested that day, but I have
transformed my protest into public policy. Eight years ago, I was on
the outside. Tonight, I am on the inside, but it is the same fight.

Some of us fight on the inside; some of us fight on the outside. Some
of us get to serve in the Senate or in the House; others are just
watching at home tonight. But be really clear that we are in the same
fight, whether we are on the streets or in the suites--same fight.
In some ways, this is the same bill 8 years later, just worse. Like
most horror movies, the sequel tends to be worse. When we were here 8
years ago, Washington politicians were trying their best to gut the
Affordable Care Act. Remember that? When we were here, they were trying
to gut ObamaCare out of political motives.
Millions of Americans were spared, but tonight is the sequel to that
horror movie. They are back to their old political tricks, trying to
dismantle the ACA again with this legislation. It is the same fight,
just worse this time.
Instead of extending tax credits that would lower health insurance
costs for the middle class, my friends on the other side are giving
billionaires and the richest of the rich a tax cut. They are working
real hard tonight to help billionaires because, God knows, they are
having a hard time, apparently.
What that means is that 1.2 million Georgians and nearly 20 million
Americans are going to see their healthcare premiums rise. That is what
is at stake tonight. If they enact these deep cuts to Medicaid, as they
are positioned not to extend these premiums, these tax credits, they
are raising the cost of

[[Page S3667]]

healthcare for all of us. Even if you are on private insurance, you are
not safe. Your healthcare is about to go up. Your hospital might close.
And because they are cutting these clean energy tax cuts, your utility
bills are about to go up.
So I have a question tonight. Who voted for that? Some of us are
Democrats. Some of us are Republicans. Some of us are Independents.
Some voted for one party; some voted for the other party. I get it. But
who voted for that? Who voted for everybody's healthcare premiums to go
up and their hospitals to close?
Here is what I know. The folks back in Georgia didn't vote for that.
They voted for me, and they voted for Donald Trump, but they didn't
vote for that.
Ordinary folks don't want this. Just ordinary, everyday people who
barely pay attention to politics, they don't want this. Even a FOX News
poll--and you won't often hear me say that--but even a FOX News poll
from this month found that Americans don't support this ``Big Ugly
Bill.'' This is systemic in the ways in which the people's voices have
been squeezed out of their democracy. This is not just a healthcare
fight, it is that. It is not just a fight for food security for SNAP,
it is that.
But in the real sense, it is a fight for our democracy. Whose voice
gets to be heard in this Chamber? That is what this is about, the
character of the country.
Ordinary Americans don't want to do this to our children. That is why
they need to know that 71 percent of all Medicaid enrollees in Georgia
are children--71 percent. They are taking away healthcare from kids to
pay for tax cuts for billionaires.
Let me be clear. I am all for tax cuts. I believe working families
deserve a tax cut, and I certainly don't want to see them face a tax
hike this year. That is why I want to nearly double the child tax
credit. I believe in tax cuts for hard-working families, for middle-
class people, for working-class families.
Instead of doing that, instead of helping working-class families who
are struggling now against a 10-percent tax on everything and rising
costs, we are now burdening our children by adding $3 trillion to the
debt. We are taking away healthcare from kids and then burdening them
with the debt. We are engaged in Robin Hood in reverse, this body, of
stealing from the poor in order to give to the rich; this massive
transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top.
This is socialism for the rich.
And when the people hear about it, guess what. They don't like it--
Democrats and Republicans and Independents. When the people hear about
what is in this ``Big Ugly Bill,'' they don't like it.
And that is why the folks on the other side are trying their best to
fast-track it. That is why they are trying to pass it, and they haven't
even finished writing it. They are twisting themselves in knots, making
their Members walk the plank under the threat of a primary to pass this
``Big Ugly Bill.''
The American people do not want to rob our children of food and
healthcare and then burden them with trillions in debt to give
billionaires and wealthy corporations another tax cut. The people do
not want this bill.
So if the people do not want this bill, but they are trying to pass
it, here is the question that you have to ask yourselves at home. You
have to ask yourselves: Well, whom are they working for? Whom are they
fighting for? Who do they think matters? Do you think they are working
for you?
This is a moral moment and a budget is a moral document. We have been
summoned to this moment, people of faith and people of moral courage
who claim no particular faith at all. Maybe because I was here
yesterday and 8 years ago for a similar fight with faith leaders; maybe
because I am a preacher and it is Sunday and I have been here instead
of church, I have especially been thinking about those of us who are
people of faith, people whose lives are informed by Scripture, people
of the Book.
And maybe those of us who have different politics but read from the
same Book ought to spend some time together reading the Book because I
do sometimes wonder--and I say this with all humility. None of us owns
the truth. But if I am honest, there are days when I have to ask people
of my faith tradition as a Christian, are we reading the same Book? The
Book I know says: I was hungry and you fed me. I was sick, I was in
prison, and you visited me. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. In as
much as you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto
me.
The Book that I love says: Learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the
oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Speak out for those
who cannot speak, for the rights of the destitute. Speak out, judge
righteously, defend the rights of the poor and the needy.
My Book says: Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and will
be repaid in full.
The prophet Amos condemns those who ``buy the poor for silver and the
needy for a pair of sandals.''
They sell the poor out and working-class people for cheap. And for
those of us who have a vote in this moment, for my colleagues who are
swinging on a moral dilemma, I hear the prophet Micah say: He has
already told you what is good. What does the Lord require of you but
that you do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.
May God be with our Nation and grant us grace, wisdom, and courage
for this moment.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
Ms. HASSAN. Madam President, first, I want to thank my colleagues
and, especially just now, my colleague from Georgia, for their work
tonight, for their expression of what is at stake in this moment. And
to Senator Warnock, I say thank you and amen.
I am here today because I am joining the majority of Americans who
are deeply alarmed by this plan from the President and his
congressional allies, a plan that will make life less affordable for
more Americans.
When we return home for this Fourth of July, it would be nice to be
able to tell our constituents that we came together and passed
bipartisan legislation to help bring down costs for families. Instead,
my colleagues who vote for this legislation will have to explain why,
at a time when families' pocketbooks are strained, they chose to
support a partisan bill to make American life even less affordable.
What will America look like once this bill takes effect? Millions of
people will have lost their health coverage thanks to the largest cut
to Medicaid in American history. More people won't be able to afford
preventive care and cancer screenings, and more people will get sick.
Healthcare premiums will surge for everyone because fewer people will
have care, and the number of uninsured Americans will increase.
Rural hospitals will close their doors because they lost Medicaid
reimbursements that help keep them afloat. More people, especially in
States like mine, will have to make long car rides just to get to a
hospital 50 miles away in those desperate moments when minutes feel
like hours and hours like eternities.
Seniors will be thrown into grave peril because this bill threatens
hundreds of billions in Medicare cuts.
And once this plan eviscerates food assistance programs, it will be
much harder for families to afford to put food on the table at a time
when groceries are already far too expensive.
Let there be no mistake, more families and children who today are
being fed will go hungry, and all the while our children will be
burdened with trillions more in debt.
In the name of what cause is all this done? Well, it is all to pay
for tax breaks for billionaires. This bill will also make us an America
where our people are less free.
In New Hampshire, during my time as Governor, we adopted Medicaid
expansion with support from both political parties, and we balanced the
budget at the same time. We understood that, with health, comes
freedom: the freedom to work and provide for one's family; the freedom
from disease and despair; the freedom that comes from--why do I even
have to say this?--being alive. Granite Staters also understood that a
great country like ours treats its people with great dignity. In
America, we don't sacrifice the health of our

[[Page S3668]]

neighbors, and we don't let families fall sick. We do not imperil our
economy, our debt, and our workforce just to pay for a tax giveaway for
a billionaire.

So what kind of country will we be with this bill? We will not only
be less healthy, but we will be less prosperous and less free. In
short, this bill is at odds with what we aspire to be as Americans.
It is also worth noting how remarkably out of step this bill is with
the American people's plea to bring down costs. In a democracy like
ours, theoretically, the people's representatives pass legislation that
reflects the aspirations of the majority. I say ``theoretically''
because, clearly, that is not what is happening today. Indeed,
according to the data from the Joint Economic Committee minority, if
one combines this bill with the President's tariffs, then firefighters,
truckdrivers, and teachers, for instance, will lose $470 or more next
year while the top 0.1 percent--who are the people who earn about $4
million or more--will be $348,000 richer.
This bill would take away healthcare from tens of thousands of
Granite Staters and would take a similar toll across the country.
Indeed, in both Florida and Texas, the number of people who will lose
their health insurance is greater than the entire population of New
Hampshire--millions of people losing care with a stroke of a pen.
What have these people done to deserve that? All the American people
are asking for is for us to help bring down costs. So the President and
the Republicans in Congress take away their healthcare?
Sometimes in Washington, we are faced with bills that fail to fully
meet the moment, to be sure, but it is rare to find legislation like
this: a bill that makes life less affordable during a time when
Americans of every political stripe are crying out for lower costs; a
bill that seems as if it was drafted just to make a mockery of the
wills and wishes of the majority of the people in this country.
Lately, many of my colleagues and some political pundits have been
talking about this bill as if it were inevitable--a runaway freight
train so vast that it cannot be stopped. In light of this
inevitability, they suggest that some of the bill's deficiencies can
just be overlooked. But, of course, this bill was not inevitable, nor
is it now.
So let's be clear: Each and every Senator in this body has free
will--God-given free will--which means that the measures in this
legislation that gut Medicaid weren't written by mistake or by chance.
We didn't arrive at this day with a vote on this terrible budget bill
by accident. Let's not delude ourselves. We are only here because a
majority in this body decided to ignore the majority of the country and
make a series of decisions. The Republican majority decided to gut
Medicaid. They decided to take away healthcare from millions. They
decided to raise insurance premiums for the rest of us. They decided
that closed hospitals were a risk worth taking. They decided that
taking food away from hungry kids was acceptable. They decided that
trillions more in debt was not a problem. The Republican majority
decided that depriving the American people of all of these things and
raising their costs were worth it just as long as they paid for another
tax break for billionaires.
That is the bargain that this administration, along with my
Republican colleagues, is forcing the American people to accept. Our
people will be less healthy, and our kids will have more debt, but the
President and billionaires like him will get a tax break.
Of course, part of what makes this bill so frustrating is it includes
some individual provisions that I have spent years trying to pass into
law. This bill includes provisions I support, some even that I
authored, like strengthening the R&D tax deduction to support our
entrepreneurs and a tax cut for families to make childcare more
affordable. I also support this bill's provisions which would tackle
our housing crisis by expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit,
which would bring down the cost of housing, as well as a provision
making mortgage insurance tax deductible so that it is easier to buy a
home. I support a bill with real tax cuts for the middle class and
small businesses, unlike the token measures included in this bill.
If my Republican colleagues worked across the aisle to draft a bill
that brought this bipartisan approach to other critical areas like
healthcare and food assistance, I would vote for it. Instead, my
colleagues chose to take these commonsense solutions hostage by linking
every good idea to three bad ones, turning this into a purely partisan
endeavor. So, yes, I am glad that some of these bipartisan provisions
will be signed into law, but I regret that they aren't a part of a
truly bipartisan effort because of the politics of division and
destruction that President Trump brings to Washington.
I know that there are many areas of common ground with my Republican
colleagues in this body, but it has become far too difficult to move
forward on finding solutions when, at every turn, the President seems
far more interested in demonizing and dividing rather than in bringing
people together; in turning areas of agreement into weapons to force
disagreement. Now, that is exactly the kind of cynical politics of
division that does lasting damage to our families, to our economy, and
to our democracy.
President Trump, likely, will get this bill passed. He may get enough
of the Republican caucus to stand in line once again to pass it, even
though my Republican colleagues know that budget analysts have added up
the financial cost of this bill and have told them that it adds
trillions upon trillions to our national debt, burdening our children's
futures.
But, you know, as important as the debt is, it is not the only cost
of passing this awful bill. There is another kind of cost, a cost not
simply of dollars and cents. I shouldn't have to remind this
administration and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle about
the nature of this cost. They know it. Just to be clear, this tax break
for corporate special interests and billionaires has a price--a price
that can't be summed up in a budget line or written off during tax
season--because when we debate healthcare in America, some dress up
these discussions with words like ``reconciliation'' and ``program''
and ``discretionary spending,'' but what they are talking about is
being sick and being healthy. What they are talking about, whether they
want to admit it or not, is living and dying.
So how much does this bill cost?
The cost is that of millions of Americans losing their healthcare.
The cost is of countless numbers of families feeling the pain of higher
insurance premiums. The cost is a mother being forced to choose between
paying out of pocket for her own care or paying for groceries for her
kids. It is a price that is exacted in cancers that go undetected. It
is exacted in chronic illnesses that go untreated. It is exacted in the
healthcare challenges in our country that continue to go unaddressed
because we spend all our energies simply trying to keep our heads above
water in the floods of the President's own making.

The pricetag is more than dollars and cents. It includes the cost of
losing more people from our workforce because they are too ill to work.
It includes the gnawing pains of hunger and the slow toll of
malnutrition that will come as food assistance programs are robbed. It
includes the anguish of young parents who no longer know how they will
make ends meet. It includes the lost hopes and deferred dreams of
people held back by illness. It includes the cost of having to say more
early good-byes.
What is the pricetag of this bill?
The price, in the end, is the health and freedom of millions of
Americans. It is a price that will be paid because somewhere on the
road that brought us here, here in President Trump's Washington, some
people decided that the health of some child or her mother may be dear
but that it doesn't carry the same weight that a bigger tax return for
a billionaire does.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
Mr. BENNET. Madam President, the hour is late. I want to thank the
Presiding Officer for being here.
I am glad to be here with my colleague from New Hampshire and my
neighbor from New Mexico.
I want to thank the floor staff that is here tonight. And I would
like to suggest--but it is not the purpose of my speech--that the next
time Senators

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make the suggestion that the floor staff should spend the entire night
reading a bill here, that the Senators actually read that bill instead
of imposing that on the staff that is here. I think that would be a
just thing for us to do and the appropriate and proper thing for us to
do.
Madam President, the last time that we were headed down this road,
which was when Republicans were passing President Trump's 2017 deficit-
exploding tax cut, it didn't take a mathematical genius to figure out
what was about to happen. I told the Senate at that time that, as our
debt grows, we will spend billions more not on schools, roads, and
innovation but on interest costs. Worse, we were about to blow another
hole in the debt without really helping the middle class, and 8 years
ago, I said: On top of that, we know that, when deficits swell, as they
surely will, cuts to Medicaid and Medicare will be sure to follow,
further burdening working families struggling to make ends meet.
Well, here we are. That is exactly the story of this bill. Utterly
predictable is this bill which massively increases our deficit when our
children can least afford it. The Republican Senators who will be
passing this bill tonight or tomorrow morning, if they do, know they
are doing it when we have already hit a new milestone for the first
time in American history.
Our interest payments exceed the amount that we spend on our national
defense. For the first time, the American people, because of the
irresponsibility of those in this Chamber, are going to pay $1 trillion
in interest. That is a massive number. That is essentially the same as
what we spend on Medicare; as what we spend on children and higher
education together; as what we spend on housing, bridges, broadband,
ports, and highways combined.
I want to be very clear tonight that over the years, Democrats and
Republicans have pursued policies that have led to that $1 trillion in
interest payments--there is no doubt about it--and it is worth thinking
about what we could do if we hadn't made such fiscally irresponsible
choices: expand the child tax credit, as my colleague from Georgia
said; cut childhood poverty in half and hunger by a quarter; build a
modern energy group to meet our expanding energy demands so Americans
in cities and rural communities can enjoy affordable, reliable energy
at home; establish a healthcare system that the American people
deserve--a modern system that people in other rich, industrialized
countries take for granted, a system that does not cost twice as much
with worse outcomes like in the United States of America, the richest
country in the world, that forces parents to choose between their
children's prescriptions and school supplies and that exhausts the
American people who, day after day after day, have to fight endless
negotiations with their insurance companies just to keep their children
covered; that constantly threatens rural hospitals and clinics with
closures in this country. No other rich country in the world puts up
with that craziness. And we are spending twice as much as any other
country in the world to get worse healthcare, worse outcomes, and more
scarcity.

Every Senator on this floor might make a different choice about the
policies that they would enact, their preferred policies, but I doubt
that there is anybody here who is willing to go home and defend the
virtues of wasting $1 trillion of the American people's money on
interest payments.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and outside groups like
the Penn Wharton Budget Lab tell us that by the end of the next 10
years, we will have the highest debt ratio ever, eclipsing the debt our
Nation had in the 1940s.
What was happening in the 1940s? That is when the ``greatest
generation'' had borrowed money to defeat economic misery at home
through the New Deal and European fascism by becoming the arsenal of
democracy. Those were their receipts. Those were the receipts of a
generation that understood its commitment to the next generation--to
us.
When we contemplate from this broken Senate the patriotic
accomplishments of the ``greatest generation,'' what has always seemed
particularly egregious to me has been the tax policy Republicans have
passed four times since Ronald Reagan passed it in 1981. Every single
time, they made the same promises--every time. Look it up. They made
the same promises that their trickle-down tax policy would drive
economic growth, cut our deficit, pay for itself. Every time, including
the recent Trump tax cut in 2017, these promises have been false. They
have been false. That was 8 years ago. That wasn't a century ago. We
know what the math is. Everybody in this room knows the deficit is far
worse today than it was when Donald Trump passed those tax cuts.
President Trump has had a very rare thing happen, which is he got to
take 4 years off and come back and be President. The effect of the tax
cuts he passed the last time that he said were going to pay for
themselves clearly have not. There is nobody in this Chamber who can
deny that.
I always find it amazing, when I hear these promises, why people make
them if they know they are so false--over and over and over again. I
think the reason is that it is a way that politicians in Washington can
avoid the objections that you could never get away with at home.
Imagine for a minute if there were a mayor in America, any mayor in
any town--in Santa Fe, NM; or in Limon, CO; or in Los Angeles, CA--it
doesn't matter--a Republican town or a Democratic town. Imagine if a
mayor came to join you and said: This town is going to borrow more
money than we have ever borrowed before.
That would worry you. That would worry me. I think our first question
to that mayor would be: OK. That worries me. What are you going to
spend the money on that you are going to borrow? Are you going to spend
it on schools?
No.
Are you going to spend it on parks?
No.
Are you going to spend it on the water infrastructure that so many
communities in New Mexico require? Are you going to spend it on the
mental health crisis that our teenagers are facing because of our
failure to address it? Are you going to spend it on infrastructure?
The answer to all those questions would be no.
What are you going to spend the money on, Mr. Mayor?
Well, the answer is, I am going to give tax cuts to the two richest
neighborhoods in town and hope that those trickle down to everybody
else.
That is the Republican tax policy.
There is a reason why no mayor in America has ever done that. There
is no mayor in America who has ever pursued trickle-down economics
because you would get run out on a rail. You would get run out on a
rail if you went and said: We are going to borrow the most money that
has ever been borrowed from our children to finance tax cuts for the
richest neighborhoods in town.
It makes no sense. It is preposterous. Yet that has been the argument
since Ronald Reagan first said that these tax cuts will be paid for,
that the economy will grow, that there won't be a deficit.
There is a reason we are paying more than $1 trillion in interest
today, and that is because our deficits are enormous.
Fortunately--and this is really important for the American people to
understand--we still live in the strongest country in the world. We are
in the world's richest economy. We have the most lethal military. Apart
from our President, we have a national commitment to an independent
judiciary, the rule of law, and low levels of corruption in our economy
and in our society. We have unparalleled capital markets, cutting-edge
innovation, and world-leading universities. We have all those things
going for us partly because the folks who came before us invested in
those things and built those things and tended those things.
But what we struggle with in our time is a sense amongst most
Americans that they can't get ahead, that the American dream is further
and further out of reach for themselves and for their families. In my
view, that is the biggest challenge our country faces and in the face
of this bill's ill-considered tax cuts and cuts to our healthcare
system, which is going to throw millions of people off of their
healthcare and make healthcare more expensive for everybody else.

[[Page S3670]]

By the way, what is the logic of that? The logic of that is that when
you throw people off their healthcare, they end up going to the
emergency room to take care of themselves and take care of their
families, just as anybody would. That is the most expensive care that
anybody could have. That expense is then put in our insurance policies,
and all of us are going to pay more. You can't wish away people just
because you throw them off health insurance.
When other countries in the world--other wealthy, rich countries in
the world--have a system of insurance that basically guarantees
healthcare and mental health care to their citizens, it is worth asking
why we would throw our people off the not-so-great health insurance
that they have. That is a good question. But it is particularly crazy
when it just drives up the cost for everybody else.

We need to deeply think about the challenges that our country is
facing today. It is more unequal. The top 1 percent own 30 percent of
our Nation's wealth, and the bottom 50 percent own 2\1/2\ percent. The
top 1 percent of Americans own 50 percent of the value of the stock
market. The top 1 percent of Americans own 50 percent of the value of
the stock market while the bottom 50 percent own just 1 percent of its
value.
Something that is really affecting my State is that the Nation's
median home price is now five times higher than the median family
income. As a result, the average first-time home buyer is now 38 years
old--38 years old--versus 29 just a generation ago. Reading scores in
our Nation have hit a 20-year low. And perhaps most damning and perhaps
most upsetting is that our lifespan has declined since the 1980s. We
are now, on average, likely to die 6 years sooner than other people who
live in wealthy countries around the world. If you are African
American, your chance of dying is, on average, 12 years--12 years--
sooner than people living in the industrialized world.
If we don't shift course soon, we will be the first generation of
Americans whose kids and grandkids will be worse off than we are. That
has never happened before. We are on track for that to happen to our
children.
Many young people today can't afford to live on their own, and they
may never be able to afford a house. They can't afford healthcare or
childcare. They can't count on a quality education for their children
in too many parts of America. Some are really worried about whether
they are going to be able to afford a child at all. If you haven't
heard a family say that to you in your townhalls or in your meetings,
you haven't been paying attention.
But instead of addressing any of these challenges, we are debating a
bill tonight that will make the wealthiest Americans even wealthier and
the poorest Americans even poorer--half a million of whom live in
Colorado--while adding millions more to the debt, which working
Americans are going to have to pay back. That is what this Republican
trickle-down economics comes down to. No matter how you dress it up,
that is what it comes down to.
Our generation has made some very bad choices when it comes to our
children's future. This bill only makes matters worse for them. And all
this debt will constrain the choices they are going to be able to make
for themselves. That is a shame because, unlike us, perhaps they will
aspire to follow in the footsteps of the ``greatest generation'' and
build a country where lifespans are growing, not falling; where
economic mobility is rising; where poverty and economic anxiety are
falling; where energy exports are increasing and emissions are
decreasing; where quality healthcare and childcare and education and
affordable housing are abundant, not scarce.
It seems obvious to me that our child's ambitions should be ours as
well. Unfortunately, tomorrow, the Republican majority may pass a bill
that takes us further in the wrong direction. In its wake and in its
wreckage, Americans who do feel an obligation to the next generation
are going to have to fight even harder to fulfill our duty.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
Mr. SCHIFF. Madam President, today, we meet at the center of a great
debate, at a crossroads that will determine the direction of the
country for another generation. And this debate, this choice, goes to
the heart of a central question that has been plaguing families in
America over the last three decades but that is now just coming to the
forefront.
And that question is this: If you are working hard in America, can
you still earn a good living for yourself and your family? If you are
working hard in America, can you still buy a home or pay your rent, buy
your food and medicine, get the healthcare you need, afford fuel for
your car, get a decent education, or go on a family vacation? And if
the answer is no--and for all too many millions of people, the answer
is no--what do we do about it?
When I was a kid, my father was in the clothing business. He was a
traveling salesman, and he made $18,000 a year. On the strength of that
single income, my parents bought our first home for $18,000. He made
$18,000 a year, and my parents bought a home for $18,000. It was the
American dream, and it came true for our family.
Today, I am a U.S. Senator. That, too, is part of the American dream
that anything is possible in this country. But could anyone buy a home
for the cost of the annual income even of a U.S. Senator? Not a chance
in the world. An average home in California costs three or four times
that much.
My kids are paying thousands and thousands of dollars a month in
rent. Could they find a home for the cost of their annual income? There
is even less of a chance of that.
And what about your grandkids? At the rate we are going, at the rate
housing prices are rising, what chance will they have to afford a home
at any income?
And, of course, it is not just a home. Healthcare costs are rising
even faster. Millions of families are only one healthcare crisis away
from failing, and it is not their fault. It is not their fault. They
are working hard--harder than ever--and they can't keep pace with
rising premiums, out-of-pocket costs, hospital stays, drug costs, and
charges at the emergency room.
Energy prices are going up. It costs more to heat your home in the
winter and a lot more to cool your home in the summer. Utility bills
have been rising by double digits while incomes have remained
comparatively flat. It is too much. It is too much.
Now, why is this coming to a head now? Why, when we are not in a
great depression, not even a great recession--although, with Trump's
destructive tariff wars, we may get there soon enough--why now? Why now
is this coming to a head?
The answer is that people feel more squeezed than ever, more pressure
than ever, more like a failure than ever because they are doing their
best, working their hardest, and they are still hanging by a thread.
And do you know something? It is not their fault. It is not their
fault. They are doing everything they can to provide for their
families, and it is just not enough.
It is not their fault, but it is someone's fault. It is someone's
responsibility. There is someone who should be held accountable for the
fact that this generation is the first to renege on a compact between
generations that we would leave the country better off to the next
generation than the one that came before.
And do you know who that someone is? It is us. It is us.
The world has changed, the nature of work has changed, and we have
not changed with it. We have not kept pace. And in too many ways,
through our policy failures, we have moved the country in the wrong
direction.
And the question before us today is whether we continue to barrel
down that track toward higher home prices, bigger healthcare costs,
more hunger, and greater hardship, or whether we change direction--much
too late, yes; requiring an even more profound course correction,
certainly; but finally steer this country to a better quality of life
for all of our citizens.
Is this bill that change in direction? Does it lead our country on a
new path toward affordability and prosperity? The answer--the simple,
terrible but clear-as-day answer--is no, it most emphatically does not.
No, it does nothing to bring down costs. No, it does nothing to make it
easier for your kids or mine to buy a house, pay their rent,

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buy groceries, afford their medicine, or fill up the car for a family
vacation. Instead, it throws more coal in the engine barreling down a
track to nowhere.
Donald Trump promised he wouldn't cut Medicaid, but this bill cuts
hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid. It is shredding the
President's commitment made again and again. In January, the President
said Republicans will ``love and cherish'' Medicaid. In February, he
said, ``We are not going to touch it.'' Even a few weeks ago, the
President said, ``We are not changing Medicaid. We are leaving it.''
But we see in the black and white in this text they released in the
dark of night that that simply isn't true. This bill will result in
millions losing their healthcare from cuts to Medicaid. We know that.
The Republicans know that. Thom Tillis has made this point over and
over again tonight, as have other Republicans in this body.
This bill will close down hospitals in the poorest counties and
States. It will raise healthcare costs for families everywhere--and by
the thousands of dollars. It takes food away from the hungry. It kills
clean energy so that we have to rely on oil and gas for everything,
enriching that industry and impoverishing the rest of us with higher
prices at the pump.
It raises taxes on working families and the middle class, while
lowering taxes on the very wealthy and corporations.
If you are in the top 0.1 percent of income earners, making more than
$5 million a year, you will get a $346,000 tax cut. How is that fair?
How is that right? And it borrows the money from our kids to pay for
that $346,000 tax cut, to pay for the habits of really rich people.
Where is the fairness, the morality in that? When is enough enough?
My father was part of the ``greatest generation.'' We, it would
appear, are part of the most selfish, and I am fed up with it. I am fed
up with it.
What happened to any sense of responsibility in this generation? What
happened to love of country?
Can we love our country and impoverish it? Can we love our children
and grandchildren if we take from them only to give to ourselves?
In this bill, we borrow trillions from our kids, and for what? So the
rich can have a bigger boat? So corporate CEOs can have more money? So
a company can buy back more of its stock? So we can be richer than our
neighbor while his neighbor has no home at all?
``The test of our progress,'' Franklin Roosevelt said in 1937, ``is
not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is
whether we provide enough for those who have too little.''
Last week, a landscaper in Los Angeles was tackled to the ground
because he was undocumented. He is the father of three marines--three
marines. When one of those marines was finally able to speak to his
father after his detention, he had one ask of his son: Please go back
to the worksite and finish the job.
That was his ask. That is the work ethic that has made this country
great, not the ethic that brought him to the ground. Raising three
marines, that is the patriotism that has made this country great, not
the rancor that beat him while he lay there.
But if this bill is not the answer--and it most certainly is not--if
this bill only makes matters worse, far worse, then what is the answer?
What direction shall we go? How can we begin to make the country work
for people once again?
Well, we can give instead of take. We can build instead of tear down.
We can recapture once again the sense of possibility in this country.
If Eisenhower was part of the generation that won the war and built the
roads and highways, let us be the generation that wins the peace by
creating the next giant boom in housing in America, making the
investment necessary, tapping into the great potential of the
government and industry working together, breaking down each obstacle
in the way--millions and millions of new homes that my children can
afford and your children.
Let us build new hospitals instead of closing them down and, in so
doing, bring the cost of healthcare down with them. Let us train new
doctors and nurses so it is not so expensive to visit them and new home
healthcare workers to take care of us even as we take care of them.
Let us grow more food and feed more people at home and abroad and
bring down the costs of our groceries. Let us thank our farmworkers,
instead of chasing them through the fields to separate them from those
they love.
None of this--none of this--is beyond our capacity. It may mean that
we can't afford yet another tax break for the wealthy or a giveaway to
the oil industry or a giveaway to any other industry and its corporate
titans.
It may call for some sacrifice on our part, but a fraction of what
our parents and grandparents gave to this country. It means that we pay
more attention to our kids and their needs and less our own; that we
once again show concern and compassion for our neighbor and remember
that we were once strangers in a strange land; that we show humility
about our own achievements and recognize that none of us got here on
our own; that all of us can prosper without someone else being made to
suffer--you know, the way it used to be; the way it could be once
again.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. LUJAN. Madam President, I heard several of my colleagues speak
tonight about what this bill means for Americans all across America.
Now, each of us has a responsibility to ask whether this bill meets the
needs of the people that we are honored to serve.
Now, I grew up on a small farm, as many of you know, working the
land, caring for animals, sometimes even cleaning barns. And I can tell
you, this bill does not pass the smell test.
For New Mexicans, hard-working people, this bill does not help our
families get ahead. New Mexicans work hard. Folks are not looking for a
handout. New Mexicans are the type of people who would give you the
shirt off their back if you needed it. It is just who we are, and I am
proud of it.
But sometimes people fall on hard times. And I will remind you all
that this could happen to any of us. You might need medical care. You
might need help putting food on the table, maybe support to care for a
loved one, or just want enough security to know that a job will be
there for us.
Some claim that this bill will help Americans, which we know is not
the truth because, from where I stand, there is very little in this
legislation that helps hard-working New Mexicans.
Now, it is important that this debate is happening because now New
Mexicans and people all across America can clearly see what is in this
bill and what is not. As has been said time and time again this
evening, the vast majority of this legislation benefits the
ultrawealthy. The wealthiest 0.1 percent are getting over 250 grand
back in their pocket. Can you believe this?
How many people might not make that in a lifetime? An extra $250,000
in their pockets, that is what this bill is about. Now, meanwhile, it
does not help farmers; it does not support teachers or children.
Nothing for New Mexico seniors who rely on Medicaid SNAP, and nothing
for New Mexicans who served our country and deserve our care in return.
New Mexicans are hard-working people who believe in the values of
loving your neighbor, following what the Bible teaches us: Do unto
others as you have them do unto you.
This bill goes against everything New Mexicans stand for. It is not
honest; it is not caring; and it is not fair.
Now, I have heard my colleagues try to claim that this bill does not
cut assistance. That is a lie. It is not true. This bill cuts more than
a trillion dollars from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
and Medicaid, for crying out loud. Senate Republicans are gutting the
Affordable Care Act and ripping healthcare away from 17 million
Americans.
Now a few of my colleagues across the aisle have spoken with some
clarity, saying out loud what we all know to be true.
One Republican Senator warned about SNAP, about these cuts, saying:

If we don't watch out, people are going to get hurt.

Another Republican colleague said on Medicaid:

We can't be cutting healthcare for working people and for
poor people in order to constantly give special tax treatment
to corporations.

[[Page S3672]]

Now that same Senator went on to say that:

Slashing health insurance for the working poor is morally
wrong.

That is right. I wish more of them spoke with that clarity. At least
a few of them are saying out loud what the rest of America is thinking.
Now is the time for more courage, though, the courage to put people
first. My colleagues all have a chance to vote against this
legislation. They all have a chance to vote for amendments that will
say: Hands off Medicaid. Don't cut those nutrition programs that one
Senator said are going to hurt people if we don't watch out.
This bill takes food from the mouths of New Mexican children and
takes care away from New Mexicans who are sick. It is not just New
Mexico. These cuts will hurt people in every State.
My Republican colleagues, to lock up one more vote, offered something
called the Polar Payoff--a carve-out for one State. Now, look, these
carve-outs are an admission that this bill will leave people hungry and
without care--plain and simple. Otherwise, why would they want a carve-
out for their State? Why was this carve-out added?
Because this scam of a bill cuts funding for rural hospitals and the
programs that feed children and families in need. For our rural
communities out there, for the farmers and ranchers who grow our food,
this bill will hurt your bottom line while closing rural hospitals,
closing rural grocery stores.
For families who rely on SNAP, this bill means less food on the table
and more children going to bed hungry, all while making healthcare,
especially emergency care, harder to access. That is what this bill
does to hard-working Americans. And I am not even mentioning the
Americans who currently have healthcare but will no longer be able to
afford it because of this bill.
Those of you watching at home tonight who do not think this impacts
you, it just might. Earlier this week, I had the honor of speaking with
a healthcare worker from Las Cruces, Julee. Julee traveled all the way
from New Mexico to Washington, DC, to tell Congress not to mess with
her families' Medicaid.
Like many of her colleagues, she had a story to share. Now, Julee's
son received mental health care through Medicaid. When that coverage
was cut, Julee lost her son. Soon after, her daughter was diagnosed
with a serious condition that required immediate care. Now, without
Medicaid, her daughter may not have survived either. Just think about
that. Let it sink in.
New Mexicans understand the responsibility of looking after family.
Like so many families in New Mexico and across the country, I grew up
helping to take care of my grandparents. Grandma Nestora and Grandpa
Celedon, my dad's parents.
Now, when my other grandparents Grandpa Luis and Grandma Cleotilde
were victims of a terrible car accident, I watched my mom, my uncles,
my aunts, and my cousins show what grace looks like, what love feels
like, what compassion really means.
Now this bill is a direct attack on those values, values of helping
one another and shared sacrifice. There is no shared sacrifice in this
bill, only more handouts for the wealthy.
There is nothing in this bill that shows that we are all looking out
for our neighbors across America. And like so many Americans, I am so
deeply concerned about the pricetag. This bill would add more than $3
trillion to the national debt.
To people watching, this is not just a number. It affects your
everyday life--higher interest rates. Think about your credit cards,
your car loans, your mortgages if you are fortunate to have one. This
bill is going to make your life more expensive. It is a total betrayal
of our constituents.
So to the American people: Hear me when I say, keep speaking. You
have done it before. The American people--all of you that spoke up--you
helped stop the sale of our public lands. You made your voices
impossible to ignore.
Now, this bill is not the law of the land yet. But if we stay silent,
it will be. So keep organizing, keep calling, and keep showing up
because part of our responsibility as American citizens is to protect
one another, to stand by one another, to treat others the way that we
want to be treated, the Golden Rule. It is not hard.
We all have a responsibility to stand up when something this
dangerous threatens our neighbors, our values, and our future.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moreno). The Senator from New Jersey.
Mr. KIM. Mr. President, I rise today to lift up the fact that this
reconciliation bill will do real harm to countless American families.
It is not theoretical or hypothetical. Families are hurting right now:
the opioid crisis that has ravaged large parts of my State, the mental
health crisis that people across this country are so concerned about
and are begging for help about, and so many other challenges that every
single family knows the fear of a health crisis.
Like Susan, a mother I met at a townhall down in Egg Harbor--a
townhall that was part of a series of townhalls that I did trying to
highlight the challenges that so many families are facing--and in this
crowded room full of hundreds of people, a woman named Susan shared her
story, a mom of a 24-year-old son with Down syndrome.
They use Medicaid to be able to cover his care. She broke down at the
weight of her fear and worry for her child, something a lot of us can
relate to.
She said to me that this is the face of Medicaid. As I went over to
give her a hug, I remember she said: ``It's real.''
And it is real, and I know everyone in here knows that. I know
because offices on both sides of the aisle are getting the same calls.
Our phone systems broke down because of the overwhelming volume of
people calling and literally begging--begging--us not to do this,
begging us to protect Medicaid so their kids can see the doctors,
begging us not to cut SNAP benefits so their students could have access
to healthy food.
It is a humbling experience seeing a parent begging for the resources
to take care of their sick child. Yet, as I look around, I see far too
many people rushing through this process to get it done with little
care about the resulting impact it will have, generational damage that
will be done.
While we are rushing through, barreling through without the ability
to properly debate this, I want you to know the people of New Jersey,
the people of this country, this budget represents an abandonment by
their government, and this will hurt everyone we are supposed to be
helping.
Some of the people that could be impacted the most are people within
the disability community, hundreds of thousands of people in New Jersey
with disabilities that rely on Medicaid for coverage, over 15 million
across our country, including a man named Tom Spadaro, a disability
advocate in Ocean County, NJ, who joined me for a townhall.
After a gun accident when he was 11, Tom is a total quadriplegic,
dependent on a ventilator and others. Medicaid helped him go to school,
then college, and in his own words has given him dignity.
When talking about this bill that we are debating here today he said:

If I lose Medicaid, I feel like I'm getting shot in the
head again. This time, it's not a bullet. It's legislation.

I want his words to echo through this Chamber today for everyone to
hear. If this budget passes, families in every single State across this
country will feel these cuts long after the media and the Trump
administration have decided it is time to move on and ``get over it.''
A cancer patient doesn't just ``move on'' when they have to delay
treatment because they have lost insurance coverage, when a family has
to upend their lives to become caregivers to their parents because they
can't afford elder care, when a hospital closes and the new closest
emergency room is hours away after the child is in an accident and
needs help now, not in 5 hours, they won't ``get over it.''
America will feel this long after Donald Trump is no longer in the
White House, and they will remember what has happened to their lives
because of it.
Now there are some people listening who might not think that this is
going to affect them, but these cuts to healthcare in this bill are so
dramatic, it is going to have an impact that reverberates all
throughout our communities.

[[Page S3673]]

I talked to a hospital leader in New Jersey who said that these cuts
could be so devastating for their revenue because of how much they get
through Medicaid reimbursements, that they are not sure that they are
going to be able keep their doors open, a hospital not certain if they
can keep their doors open.
This is not the only story like this across my State, across the
country, whether it is rural hospitals or it is suburban or urban. We
are going to have a lot of challenges that are going to reverberate
beyond just those on Medicaid. It is going to affect every single one
of us and raise prices at the same time.
Losing that critical care in communities not only abandons people in
their time of most need, but it leaves a tragic ripple effect on others
and other hospitals.
So today I am putting forward an amendment to this bill that would
stop this from happening and directly take out the parts of this bill
that would force hospital closures and reduce access to affordable
healthcare for so many across this country.
In no reality should we be helping billionaires send their rockets to
outer space while turning people away at hospitals. And yet, this is
the reality we find ourselves in, deciding how much care is acceptable
to take away from families across New Jersey to fit a budget cut or how
many patients can be turned away from lifesaving medication just so the
wealthy can have a nice tax break.
A doctor from Frenchtown shared some profound words with my office.
She said:

Medicaid is a reflection of our values. It is how we show
up for each other when life gets hard.

Well what does it say about our Nation as we are having this debate
that could very well take a trillion dollars out of Medicaid; about
those who need the care the most as if they are just expendable, as if
they are just some remainder on the equation of capitalism that is just
pushed to the wayside?
As just an inevitability, as a shrug of the shoulder of our society
to say: I am sorry what happened to you, without a care and an extended
arm and a hand to reach out and pull them up.
Let's be very clear. This bill will cause prices to drive up. In New
Jersey alone, over 454,000 families will see higher costs in premiums,
according to the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, which
is why I am introducing an amendment to make sure this bill wouldn't
raise these costs by striking provisions that would increase premiums
or out-of-pocket costs under Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance
Program, and some private insurance marketplaces too.
We cannot allow billionaires to get richer while working families are
seeing drastic increases to their premiums or out-of-pocket costs,
costs to keep their children healthy as we deal with the worst measles
epidemic in decades, costs to afford their kids medicine while we see
our government attacking science and fact, making parents have to work
that much harder to keep their children safe.
With all the challenges we are dealing with right now, it is painful
to think through what will happen if this bill goes into effect and the
fact that these healthcare cuts will increase our gaps and worsen
conditions for our vulnerable communities, including children. If we
can't stand up for them, for our children, who are we willing to stand
up for?
And as I said at the beginning, every family has a healthcare story.
Everyone has felt overwhelmed in the face of sickness and injury. Just
a year ago, my father took a fall. I got the call while I was on the
campaign trail. I rushed down to the hospital. But even after the
surgery, what we learned is there was an even more debilitating
challenge that we faced, a cognitive decline as my father is descending
into dementia.
I just spent Father's Day weekend with my father, the entire weekend,
but it was in the emergency room as he had twice fallen in 2 days--two
separate trips to the emergency room.
My family is overwhelmed right now. We struggle to think through his
needs that go far beyond what we can be able to provide, goes far
beyond what Medicare can provide.
And it is not just my father and my family. We have failed seniors.
We have failed as we have failed to plan and create a place for elder
care in this country that preserves a foundation of dignity and decency
for everybody.
And when you are in the trenches fighting for your own life or
gripping the hand of a loved one struggling, the last thing you want to
think about is worrying if you are eligible for this treatment or that.
You want to be able to provide what it takes for your loved one to
survive, to go a little further, spend a little more time on this
planet with us, and to grow our love deeper.
When we think about that and then we ask ourselves, well, why is this
bill happening, why are these cuts happening, it is not to bring down
the deficit. Instead, it is going to balloon the deficit by trillions
of dollars. Who among us in this country think that the problems that
we face as a Nation is because the wealthiest among us don't have
enough?
The distrust in government right now, it is not because politics
isn't doing enough to help the most well-off in our country, the
billionaires and the millionaires.
I ask my colleagues to find the courage to do the right thing. I want
to bring us back to 2017 in this very Chamber as Senators gathered to
decide the fate of the Affordable Care Act, which was, at the time,
hanging by a thread.
Many of my colleagues here in this Chamber were also on the floor at
that time. I was not. I was a regular citizen, angry at what I was
seeing unfolding, watching it on my phone.
A citizen that felt so detached from what was happening in this
Chamber, I remember thinking to myself, How could the Senate be
seriously considering doing such harm to this country, to so many
Americans by trying to gut preexisting condition protections, the
Affordable Care Act, so much others? I asked myself: Am I missing
something? Am I missing information to understand why it is that this
is even happening?
And we saw rushed conversations, and we saw people running back and
forth. And we also saw Senator John McCain step up and signal with his
arm that he did not stand for this. Senator McCain's vote was a rare
moment of doing what you know is right even when you are surrounded by
noise telling you it is wrong.
It is surreal now finding myself on the floor of the Senate in a
similar moment in our own Nation's history with so much on the line
with this vote, and I look around this Chamber and yet again think the
exact same questions from 8 years ago, How can the Senate seriously be
considering gutting care for so many?
And now with the benefit of being here, the conversations and the
information, I am still left with this question of, Am I missing
something?
How is it that such an esteemed body that is meant to protect the
American people, in this Chamber where so many decisions have been made
to protect the American people, that we are on the cusp of doing
something that will do generational damage to so many American
families?
This vote before us seems as surreal and reckless from within this
Chamber as it does from outside. But while the problem is the same, so
is the solution. It is about courage--the courage John McCain had; the
courage that so many of my constituents have.
So many people have called and shared their personal stories--stories
about their families' health they probably had never told anybody, but
they feel so desperate right now to do something that they are willing
to open themselves up, be able to pull back the curtain of the dangers
and the pain that they have endured, to be able to try to do anything
to stop this bill from hurting Americans. That is courage.
And it is courage about standing up against the big money and the
special interest, and sometimes it feels insurmountable.
And I say to my colleagues here today that you won't be remembered by
whether or not you passed this bill on President Trump's timeline or if
you feigned concern about constituents just to be able to stab them in
the back later. You will be remembered by your courage to stand up and
say no. You will be remembered by your courage to speak out for the
people--not just a few who have paid, but for all of us.

[[Page S3674]]

You will be remembered in the same way as our former colleague was
remembered by what he did 8 years ago. I urge you to remember that this
job is bigger than all of us--bigger than any one man, any one party.
It is about using our vote and our courage to make lives better for
those that we represent.
History and the American people are watching. You still have time. We
still have power. I still believe in this Chamber and believe it can be
a force for good. Let us use it for the children, for the disabled, for
those not in this room.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I too rise in opposition to the
reconciliation bill before us, but before I get to my objections over
the substance of this historic attack on working and middle-class
families, I want to speak for a minute as the ranking member of the
Rules Committee, and I need to address how Republicans are abusing the
process to get here.
They are breaking the Senate rules to hide the true cost of the bill.
For the second time in just 6 weeks, the Republican majority is going
nuclear on the Senate rules. And they are doing it with the same
purpose: to avoid the 60-vote threshold of the filibuster in order to
pass a very unpopular agenda.
Now, I know oftentimes, we are advised against getting into
``process'' because most people may not care about process or
understand process. But in this particular case, it serves to
underscore the significance of the damage that this bill represents,
the procedural lengths to which the Republican majority is going to try
to get this done.
And I do have to say it is a little surprising, because it was just
in May that Leader Thune said--Leader Thune unequivocally said:

While Republicans are in charge, the legislative filibuster
will remain in place.

If you go back to January, he was asked about this because folks kind
of had a sense that this might be coming. He said then about overruling
the Senate Parliamentarian:

That is totally akin to killing the filibuster. We can't go
there. People need to understand that.

But now Republicans are trying to do exactly that, to hide behind the
technical language of Senate procedure to harm working families.
And like I said, it is not the first time. Just last month,
Republicans voted to override the very plain language of the
Congressional Review Act, and they voted to overrule the
Parliamentarian to repeal California's Clean Air Act standards with a
simple majority vote.
Fast forward to today, they are running the same play, this time with
trillion-dollar consequences, not just air quality and public health
consequences.
See, colleagues and folks watching at home, budget reconciliation is
the most powerful, expedited procedure statute on the books. You can do
a lot with a simple majority and avoid the filibuster, but you have to
do it by the rules of reconciliation.
But today, the Republican majority wants to extend trillions of
dollars of tax cuts for President Trump's billionaire friends and
extend those tax cuts permanently. That is not just terrible, terrible
policy, it is against the Senate rules. The Congressional Budget Act
says clearly that reconciliation bills cannot increase the debt beyond
10 years.
Now, it doesn't take a Nobel Prize-winning economist to know that a
permanent trillion-dollar tax cut would do exactly that. And so once
again, following the same playbook they did last month, the majority is
going to twist the rules to try to find a way.
They are, again, ignoring the guidance from the Parliamentarian's
office that doesn't fit their agenda. And they are setting yet another
new precedent for this body not only to continue to overrule the
Parliamentarian, but to ignore adding trillions of dollars of costs
under the ``current policy baseline.''
As we did during the Clean Air Act debate last month, I and my
Democratic colleagues will once again remind our Republican colleagues
that sooner or later, Democrats will be back in the majority. By then,
the American people will have felt the pain of this bill, but we will
make sure that they understand just how hard you tried to work to hide
it from them.
Democrats will not let the American people forget what Senate
Republicans do this week.
Now, on to the substance of budget reconciliation. How many times
have we heard the Trump administration these past few months say they
are focused on fraud? Waste? Abuse?
Now, these are the buzz words that they turn to when trying to bat
away questions or when Americans are trying to get clarity on whether
the lifesaving services that they depend on are about to get cut.
But in reality, what we are seeing happen this week is one of the
biggest acts of fraud in American history playing out right before our
very eyes with the bill under debate today. And it is past midnight, so
we are in Monday, so I can still say today. Donald Trump and his
billionaire allies are literally stealing--stealing--from working
families in order to reduce the amount of taxes they would have to pay,
literally robbing from the poor to give to the rich.
For anyone really wondering whether they would actually do that, we
know they will because they have done it before. In 2017, during the
first Trump Presidency, Republicans seemed fine saying they could
afford hundreds of billions of dollars in permanent tax cuts for large
corporations. I remember the arguments back then. ``This is going to
grow the economy,'' they said. ``In time, it will reduce the debt,''
they said. That didn't happen.
So today, now, they are arguing that we can't afford programs that
keep kids from going hungry? We can't afford the programs that keep
lights on in emergency rooms? It is outrageous.
In 2025, so many working families are struggling--struggling to keep
up with the rising costs from Trump's chaotic tariff wars, with prices
going up for groceries and other everyday goods. Many are working long
hours and still struggling to make ends meet or to afford care for
their loved ones.
I get it. I have been there. Colleagues, as I have shared with you
before, I am the proud son of working-class parents who came to the
United States from Mexico in the 1960s. I will remind you that for 40
years, my father worked as a short-order cook and my mom cleaned
houses. On those modest salaries, they raised my sister, my brother,
and I in the proud working-class community of Pacoima, CA. And I
remember what it was like to live paycheck to paycheck. I know how
unnerving it can be, for example, when the car broke down, and you
listened and witnessed your parents' debate because, on the one hand,
maybe they couldn't afford the cost of repairing the car right away,
but they also realized that they couldn't afford to not fix the car
because they had to get to work.
I know that there are so many Americans in communities like the one I
grew up in that aren't looking for handouts. That is not what we are
arguing or debating in this bill. Americans just want a fair chance to
work hard and provide for their families. There is pride and dignity in
working hard and providing for families. That is part of the American
dream. People just want a fair playing field. In a country with as much
promise and profit as the United States of America, that shouldn't be
too much to ask for.
But not only would the Republican budget reconciliation bill be one
big handout for the wealthiest Americans, it would actually make life
harder for working families in order to pay for it. That is wrong, and
it is cruel.
At its very core, just like Trump did in 2017 with the help of
Republicans in Congress, this bill is fundamentally about one thing and
one thing only: cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans and big
corporations. How else do you explain the fact that the top 0.1 percent
will see a tax cut of more than $250,000 a year, while millions of
American households will actually see a reduction in their annual
income or take-home pay? That is because to pay for the massive
handouts to the wealthy, Republicans are gutting healthcare and cutting
services that so many working families depend on, and they are twisting
themselves into knots in order to cut around $1 trillion in
healthcare--cuts that would leave 16 million Americans without health
insurance. We are talking about seniors.

[[Page S3675]]

We are talking about children, Americans with disabilities, hard-
working families who don't deserve to be kicked off their health
insurance just so billionaires can pay less in taxes.
These devastating cuts, by the way, will also close rural hospitals
around the country, including in California, where so many are already
struggling just to keep the doors open.
And for folks listening to the debate thinking that ``well, if I am
not on Medicaid, then this may not apply to me; this isn't going to
hurt me,'' let me remind you that if your local hospital that relies on
Medicaid dollars is forced to cut services or cut staff or even close
its doors as a result, then, yes, you, too, will be hurt.
But the bill doesn't stop there. In this bill, Republicans cut SNAP,
nutrition assistance, that critical lifeline that so many count on to
literally feed their families. How much more cruel can you get?
But wait, there is more. Republicans are also rolling back the
historic progress we have made investing in our transition to a clean
energy economy, targeting the millions of clean energy jobs that are
fueling innovation and helping us stay ahead of China. The cuts to
clean energy that Republicans are making in this bill will lead to
higher energy costs, higher electricity bills for so many families.
I am reminded that this last November, so many voters went to the
polls and voted, hoping for lower prices. They were desperate and
looking for relief, and that is what motivated their votes. But this
bill does the opposite.
So I have to wonder, for my Republican colleagues who are supporting
this measure, who was it that you are fighting for? Did any of you
really come to Congress to take food away from the hungry? to take care
away from sick children? What are you proposing be done here?
Now, I have seen Republicans go back and forth on this bill for
months now, I am sure trying to decide just how much they can try to
get away with, and I have heard some of the arguments that they plan to
make to justify voting for this bill. Some of them will argue that we
need this bill because we need to reduce the deficit. Talk about
misleading. This bill adds trillions--yes, trillions--of dollars to our
Nation's debt. So even when they try to twist the numbers and come up
with the funny math, it doesn't even result in deficit reduction. And
do you know how you can tell? Because the Republicans included a $5
trillion increase to the debt limit in this bill. If the bill and the
cuts included in the bill indeed reduced the deficit, as they claim it
does, they wouldn't have needed to raise the debt limit in the process.

So let's be clear. Republicans who are voting for this bill know full
well it will hurt so many of their constituents. That is why behind
closed doors you have Republicans handing out flyers that show just how
devastating Medicaid cuts will be in States represented by Republicans.
Or we hear them discussing the burden SNAP cuts will have on State and
local governments. But because the leader of their party wants to sign
this bill to celebrate the Fourth of July this year, many of them will
vote yes.
But I will ask again: Who is this bill in service of? Who are you
standing up for? Who are you fighting for?
I will tell you who I am fighting for. I am fighting for people like
Jesus Acosta from San Diego, a home care provider who in 2016 became
his mother's full-time care provider when she was tragically hit by a
car and became disabled. Jesus can't hold a full-time job and carry all
the responsibilities of looking after his mother, so for both Jesus and
his mother, Medicaid has been a lifeline. I am fighting for him.
I am fighting for people like Tina Ewing-Wilson in the Inland Empire,
who remembers what it was like the last time her Medicaid benefits were
cut. Tina struggles with seizures and developmental disabilities and
requires care 24/7. But when the great recession hit and Medicaid cuts
followed, Tina knew she could only afford her care by offering free
room and board to caregivers--caregivers who went out to abuse drugs
and alcohol and took advantage of her financially. Tina is terrified of
that possibly happening again if these Republican cuts to Medicaid
impact her. I am fighting for her.
I am fighting for the families I met at Rady Children's Hospital,
where over half of all patients are covered by Medicaid.
I am fighting for the nurses and the caregivers who fear for their
patients. They care for their patients, but they are fearing for their
patients because of these proposals.
I am fighting for every parent across the country who is working
their tail off to put food on the table for their children but every
now and then may need a helping hand.
If you see these Americans, if you have constituents with similar
experiences in Your States and still think they should have less of our
help, not more, then I guess we came to Congress for different reasons.
If you have seen so many corporations' profits soaring and the wealth
inequality in our country growing and think that billionaires need more
tax relief, then I guess we came to Congress for different reasons.
If, this week, you will vote to rip these critical lifelines away
from millions of Americans because you somehow think it is the right
political calculation, then surely we came to Congress for different
reasons.
Colleagues, it is crystal clear. I urge you to vote no on this bill
and stand with me, stand with us, stand up for working families. That
is what I plan to do.
I yield the floor.

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