Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Urging Adoption Of His Amendment That Would Eliminate Tax Cuts For Billionaires If Healthcare Costs Go Up

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on his amendment that would ensure the cost of healthcare for working people and families wouldn’t go up in order to fund tax cuts for billionaires, and urged Senate Republicans to vote affirmatively for it. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

My amendment, the first we will offer, is simple. It undoes that travesty that is at the core of the Republican bill. Their bill, the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” which is really a “Big, Ugly Betrayal,” cuts taxes for billionaires by taking away healthcare from millions of people.

So what my amendment simply says, if people’s healthcare costs go up, the billionaire tax cuts vanish. 

Republicans, you can tell in the speeches already, are on the defensive. 

They know how bad this bill is for the American people. 

They know that Donald Trump is lying when he says it won't cut healthcare.

I salute my colleague from North Carolina. We all heard what our colleague from North Carolina had to say yesterday about this bill. 

My guess is about half, maybe even more than half, of the Republicans in the Senate agree with him. 

But he had the courage to speak the truth. 

He said it himself: the bill devastates his state.

But make no mistake about it, it will devastate the states of almost every Republican here.

It is outrageous to take food out of the mouths of hungry children, to take healthcare away from people who need it to survive, just for tax cuts for the billionaires. 

And the American people know it. 

To my colleagues, in conclusion, I say, you know what the right thing is. 

Say no to cutting health care.

Say no to gutting jobs.

Say no to this shameful, backward bill, and vote yes on my amendment. 

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