Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Senate Republicans Making Their “Big, Ugly Bill” Even Worse, Releasing Text In The Dead Of Night That Will Gut Medicaid By Almost $1 Trillion And Kill Wind And Solar Projects

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor to expose the extreme, last-minute changes in Senate Republicans’ so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill”: a sprawling, thousand-page megabill unveiled near midnight that slashes Medicaid and food assistance, delivers a death sentence for clean energy projects, raises costs for working families, and delivers massive giveaways to billionaires, all without a full accounting of its price tag. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

I want the American people to understand exactly what’s happening right now with Senate Republicans and their so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill.”

Senate Republicans are trying to pull a fast one on the American people.

For weeks, they’ve struggled with the reality that most people hate this bill.

Leadership has struggled to secure votes among their own ranks, who know how bad the bill is.

And now they’ve scrambled to meet an entirely arbitrary deadline.

So, what did Republicans do last night?

It’s hard to believe, but this bill is worse – even worse – than any draft we have seen thus far.

It is worse on healthcare.

It is worse on SNAP.

It is worse on the deficit.

At the very last minute, Senate Republicans made their bill even more extreme, to cater to the radicals in the House and Senate.

Republicans are about to move forward with a radical thousand page bill, just made public within the last several hours, without knowing how many trillions it will cost.

They do not even want to know a CBO score.

They are afraid to show how badly this bill will increase the deficit – a major bill that affects every part of American life.

They are in defiance of their own promises to cut the debt. Deficit hawks out there on the Republican side in the House and Senate: this bill makes the debt worse and the deficit worse – even worse than before.  

Future generations will be saddled with trillions in debt. Debt is abstract, but what does it mean for the average American?

Raising your costs.

Raising your costs to buy a home.

Raising your costs to buy a car.

Raising your costs on credit card bills.

Why are they doing all of this? Why are they doing the biggest Medicaid cuts in history? Now it's getting close to a trillion dollars in Medicaid alone.

All to cut taxes for the ultra-rich and special interests.

And they did it while most Americans were asleep.

It is astounding that this is the product Senate Republicans have come up with.

Because for weeks, they kept saying they were somehow going to “strengthen” Medicaid, that they’d “moderate” the House’s clean energy cuts, that nobody would lose benefits.

Well, all of that is going out the window.

Those supposed moderates on the other side are falling like dominoes, ready to move on a bill that does precisely what they claimed to oppose.

Many Republican Senators have admitted they're not happy with this bill. One said it will “take away health care from working people,” and yet they are still a yes on the bill.

If Republican Senators are not happy on this bill because they know how badly it hurts their constituency, they should vote no.

After all, they are United States Senators.

They have the power to vote however they want. Did they forget that was an option? Are they all so afraid that they can’t do what they know is the right thing for the American people?

Just incredible. Incredible.

After weeks of hemming and hawing from Republicans, the bill they are ready to proceed with is the most extreme version of their bill yet.

I guess when push comes to shove, leave it to Republicans to cave to their hard right flank.

Under this draft, Republicans will take food away from hungry kids to pay for tax breaks to the rich.

All the data shows the Democrats do not like it. Independents do not like it. And Republicans don’t like cutting SNAP, taking food away from kids all to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy. The SNAP cuts are every bit as bad in the House, the worst in history ever.

Those cuts are cruel, those cuts are un-American, but it’s what Republicans are getting ready to do.

Meanwhile, Medicaid, where they've had so much controversy and back and forth, will be fed to the sharks under this bill.

In fact, we just got the news that CBO said the Medicaid cuts in this version are worse than any version of the Republican bill to date.

Nearly a trillion dollars in cuts just to Medicaid alone. And there are more cuts for ACA and Medicare.

Let me repeat: this version of the bill cuts nearly a trillion dollars in Medicaid alone. That’s worse than any version we have seen so far – $930 billion to be precise.

And that does not count the many billions, and billions, and billions more in cuts to ACA and Medicare.

That is far worse than anything we have seen so far.

The tiny tweaks that Republicans made to the provider tax will still decimate state budgets and do nothing to protect hospitals in the coming years.

And what about the rural hospital fund Republicans have spent the last few days touting?

It’s a drop in the bucket.

This rural hospital fund is a fig leaf.

It is like putting a band aid over an amputation and sending the patient home.

When the rural hospitals start closing, just remember – the residents of those hospitals, the people who work in those hospitals – it’s because of these cuts, and no other reason.

Rural hospitals, many of them will close. This Band-Aid ain’t enough to cover even a small percentage of them.

And healthcare costs will go up for everyone, even if you don’t have Medicaid, even if you don’t have ACA, even if you don’t have Medicare. Your private insurance will go up dramatically. Every month, people hate paying those health insurance premiums. They’re going to pay a lot more under this bill.

And why are they doing all this? Why are they doing all this?

We know why.

Tax breaks for billionaires.

And now, let’s talk about another subject: the clean energy changes Republicans made last night.

Frankly, I don’t think even most Republicans realize just how radical these last-minute changes are.

They are drafted to do one thing: to kill all wind and solar.

Solar is the cheapest way to produce new energy and the quickest way to produce new energy.

We need more energy. AI is going to take up a lot of energy. If we don’t have all new sources of energy, guess what? People’s electricity bills will go up, and up, and up.

When it comes to clean energy, the Republicans basically reverted to – and somehow exceeded – the extreme policies that came out of the House.

For days, they worked to modify those provisions, many Republicans, to make them less bad. Now they’re made even worse.

And these are policies, by the way, plenty of Senate Republicans said they were going to change.

Under this new draft, clean energy projects in wind and solar will now need to be “placed in service” – in service, not begun – in less than two years from now in order to qualify for a tax break.

And the provisions related to Chinese involvement? Of course, we want to fight against China. But the best way to fight against China is have a robust solar industry. China is going to run the whole solar industry for the world, and if you think they’re not going to make Americans pay more as Chinese customers pay less, forget it.

But anyway, on the provisions related to China? They made them almost unmanageable.

It’s going to kill nearly every wind and solar project out there, because the standard is laughably unrealistic.

What does that mean?

Projects already in the works will shut down.

It means that people will lose their jobs.

It’s estimated 840,000 jobs. Let’s add that to the healthcare jobs. Wow!

Americans will pay hundreds of dollars extra a year on electricity as soon as the next year.

Thanks to the Senate Republicans caving in to Big Oil, it will be China, not the United States, that will likely become the world leader in energy production in the years to come.

Self-destructive, needless, harmful to both our economic and national security.

And it shows just how tight Big Oil’s grip is on Senate Republicans.

Remember: 80% of these clean energy investments, my colleagues, have gone to Republican districts.

The investments support – as I’ve said – over 800,000 jobs.

Republicans are so beholden to the fossil fuel industry that they’d rather kill jobs in their own communities than upset the Big Oil lobby.

Disgusting.

Shameless.

And done, of course, while most Americans were asleep.

So again, Republicans are trying to pull a fast one on the American people.

Republicans are pulling a fast one even on their own members, and certainly on their own constituents. This will hurt the reddest of states badly.

If Republicans proceed, Senate Democrats will hold them to account.

We’ll gear up for another night of vote-a-rama very soon.

We will expose this bill piece by piece.

We will show how it cuts health care, raises costs, rewards the ultra-rich.

We welcome this debate.

And if Republicans proceed and follow Donald Trump over the cliff, with this bill tied to their ankles like an anvil, they will not only doom their own communities – they will doom their own political fortunes

And they will have no one to blame but themselves.

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