Senator Chuck Schumer (00:01):
It's not even been a week since President Trump signed his big ugly betrayal, and yet, Americans are already starting to feel the impacts.
(00:13)
Last week, the Republicans rushed reckless and ran through process, resulted in a bill that was not written with input from the American people, but with billionaires, corporations and marching orders from President Trump. And the final product was worse for it. Facts are becoming clearer and clearer, they're damn clear right now. This law will create havoc, wreak havoc on our country, and hurt American families across the nation. Millions will lose healthcare. Millions more will see their premiums skyrocket. Utility bills will rise. Hungry children will lose access to food aid. Millions of Americans will lose good paying jobs, and middle class Americans and future generations will pay a lot more because of the huge deficit. More on mortgages, small business loans, credit cards, car loans, because of the crushing and historic debt dumped on their shoulders.
(01:09)
The Republicans tried to tell their members, "Oh, this won't take effect for a year and a half." Bull. You cannot make such large cuts and not have it have immediate effect, because hospitals and any kind of business, clean energy, has to plan for the future. So here, this is just a short time after they passed their big ugly betrayal, these are a few headlines.
(01:30)
"Rural Southwest Nebraska clinic closes, blaming expected Medicaid cuts."
(01:37)
This one is Maine. "Medicaid cuts lead to rural Maine hospital closures and service reductions."
(01:44)
News 9, Oklahoma. "Oklahoma Healthcare officials warn of rural hospital closure and pending Medicaid cuts."
(01:52)
That's just a few, and the number is going to grow every week. And we'll also be hearing about a lot of job losses, clean energy companies closing right away. They can't, when they know the tax credit is going to be cut off shortly, they're not going forward right now with their projects. So it's happening everywhere.
(02:10)
The Nebraska clinic I mentioned has been in operation for 30 years, it serves a town of about 900 people, and now it's closing because of the awful bill. Throughout the campaign, and for months after, President Trump and Republicans promised they would not touch Medicaid. That was a lie. That was a lie. The headlines already prove it. And unfortunately, it's just beginning. We know that about 17 million Americans will be ripped off healthcare, tens of thousands will die. And premiums, and that's going to happen right away, too. The insurance companies have to start, health insurers have to start setting their premiums in October, and because of this bill, they're going to go way up.
(02:58)
Why? To give tax cuts to billionaires. It's profane, it's morally bankrupt, it's sickening. We are already seeing in all the data that the people are hearing what we say, and they don't like what the Republicans have done. We've been very effective over the last month in letting America know how bad this is. And Amy showed a chart, in our caucus, that it was the second most unpopular act that Congress has passed. What was first?
Senator Amy Klobuchar (03:27):
That would be, the most unpopular was the repeal, their attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Senator Chuck Schumer (03:33):
Second. So it was second.
Senator Amy Klobuchar (03:34):
The John McCain thumbs down, that was the most unpopular, and then this one.
Senator Chuck Schumer (03:39):
Okay, and what else is happening? Trump is decimating the VA. This week the VA announced plans for wide-scale employee reductions at the VA. 30,000 jobs. It's going to make healthcare for our veterans much, much worse. And while the big ugly bill jeopardizes health insurance for veterans, while the big ugly bill shuts down hospitals that serve veterans, Trump and Republicans are even putting a greater strain on our veterans by cutting the VA. It's a cynical double whammy. Our veterans pay the ultimate price for Trump's cruelty.
(04:16)
So we're going to keep fighting all of these awful cuts. We cannot accept that this cruelty is the new reality. Now to Senator Klobuchar.
Senator Amy Klobuchar (04:25):
Right. Well, thank you Chuck, and thank you for your leadership. We have this big, beautiful betrayal of a bill. And as you all saw, the president on 4th of July, strutting out there. Well, the American people are onto this. And despite the fact that we have Republicans that have actually said, "Well, they're not going to notice it anyway. They're going to forget about it later." That's not true. When you look at history, as Senator Schumer just mentioned, most unpopular bill ever was when they tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act. You look at the numbers on this legislation, and it's quite extraordinary. It is very much less popular than the 2017 Trump tax cuts. It is significantly less popular than other bills that were actually above water when they passed, that would be things like the bipartisan infrastructure law and COVID relief.
(05:28)
The American people, two to one, are against this bill. They believe it's going to help the wealthiest, and they're right. They are onto this. They have marched, our constituents, in more than 15,000 rallies this year. Three times as many, as 2017. They've turned out in elections, and this includes independents and moderate Republicans in states like Wisconsin that flipped 10 counties in the Supreme Court race. Iowa, Pennsylvania, flipping state Senate seats, and Nebraska flipping the Omaha mayor. And that is just the beginning. So no one should get sucked down into this vortex that the American people are going to be duped, that they're not going to figure out what happened here, that it financed a bunch of tax cuts for the wealthy.
(06:15)
And the one thing that we think it is important for people to know now that not all of this, as much as they tried to make it take effect after the midterms, not all of it's after the midterms. These hospitals, they can't just decide, "Well, we're going to wait a year and a half for the Medicaid cuts to come in." No, they have to make, as Chuck pointed out, these investment decisions right now, and they're making them across the country. And our numbers show we're going to see the closure of hundreds of rural hospitals, as well as nursing homes.
(06:44)
At the end of this year, health insurance premiums will rise for 24 million Americans who get insurance through the Affordable Care Act. 90% increase, for rural Americans. Americans will be notified of these higher premiums in November of this year, and an estimated four million people won't be able to afford those higher bills and will lose their coverage entirely.
(07:08)
Food assistance, a number of the food assistance provisions while that mockery of the state shift, with allowing the high error rate states, including Alaska, to get two years off by virtue of the fact that they have high error rates. While that takes effect in a few years, part of the food assistance cuts will take part immediately, at a time when grocery prices are nowhere near going down with the Trump tariffs.
(07:33)
At the end of this year, the bill will also end a number of tax credits that are lowering energy costs for families. That's part of the reasons you see the numbers on the utility bills. That's what we're seeing right now, right in front of it.
(07:47)
This bill breaks promises, made by Republicans who work in this building, to the American people. Promises made by Donald Trump, and those voters that voted for him in my state that also voted for me, they voted for him because they thought he was going to bring down costs. That is not happening with this bill. They voted for him because they thought he'd do something about healthcare. It's going to make it worse for them, especially in the rural areas.
(08:11)
We will continue to fight every attempt to raise costs on American people. We have our own ideas, we have our own agenda. But the important thing to remember right now, if they try to say, "No, no one notices, because they're out at their barbecues"? No, they notice. And it's showing up right now, in these elections this year, it's showing up in the polls. And it is clearly going to, sadly, show up in their pocketbooks.
Senator Chuck Schumer (08:35):
Thank you. We only have time for a few questions. We got to vote, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Senator Schumer.
Senator Chuck Schumer (08:39):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
You've been highly critical of Republicans, in the past, threatening to shut down the government [inaudible 00:08:48] damage to your constituents, jobs in New York, programs in New York. Why now is it okay to delay, shut down the government, [inaudible 00:08:57]-
Senator Chuck Schumer (08:57):
It is not okay. Ask the Republicans why they are heading on this path. We are doing everything we can to keep the bipartisan appropriations process going. And they're undermining it with rescissions, with pocket rescissions, with impoundment, and every other way. Yes.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Senator Schumer, it's been about a month since New York City's mayoral primary. You have yet to endorse the Democratic nominee. What is holding you back, and what will it take for you to get to that place?
Senator Chuck Schumer (09:17):
I'll be meeting with them soon.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
And these are the [inaudible 00:09:18]-
Speaker 5 (09:18):
Senator Schumer.
Senator Chuck Schumer (09:29):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Some allies of the Democratic nominee for mayor have been threatening primary challenges against Leader Jeffries, and other incumbent Democrats in New York. Does that risk distract the Democrats-
Senator Chuck Schumer (09:32):
Look.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
… from taking back the House and Senate?
Senator Chuck Schumer (09:42):
The bottom line is, Democrats are united. We are fighting the high costs that American people pay. We are fighting the healthcare cuts Republicans are making. We are fighting the horrible bill that they just passed. Democrats are united, and we have been far more united, frankly, than the Republicans. Thank you.