[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 3, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H2386]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ONE BIG, UGLY BILL

  (Mr. Courtney of Connecticut was recognized to address the House for 
5 minutes.)
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, today, June 3, Congress reconvenes after a 
12-day break. On May 22, the last time we were here, this Chamber was 
involved in a 2-day marathon. H.R. 1, the misnamed one big, beautiful 
bill, was jammed through in the dead of the night, as it was being 
written in real time, by a vote of 215 to 214.
  During my time home, I held two townhalls. One was up in Tolland, 
Connecticut, near the border of Massachusetts. The other was down along 
the shoreline in Madison, Connecticut. Both townhalls were well-
attended.
  Last night in Madison, it was standing room only. People were 
bursting with questions about how a bill that can change the tax code 
for the next 10 years, that can intervene in terms of our healthcare 
system, in terms of taking away people's health coverage, can happen 
with no transparency and no public input.
  As I said, it was being written in the dead of the night prior to the 
vote on May 22. This is what we know now as the dust has settled in 
terms of what the impact of this bill is.
  In terms of healthcare, the bill is going to cut our Medicaid 
program, America's largest healthcare program, and extract roughly $700 
billion from the system over the next 10 years.
  The Affordable Care Act, subsidizes premiums, which provides health 
insurance for millions of Americans. Again, those premiums are going to 
be cut. As a result, people are going to lose their health insurance. 
That is not me saying that. That is the Congressional Budget Office, 
the neutral umpire that calls balls and strikes around this Congress 
who is saying that.
  Again, they have calculated that 15 million Americans will lose their 
health insurance as a result of this measure which was passed by the 
majority and jammed through in the dead of the night.
  In Connecticut, we have already seen what the numbers mean in terms 
of this bill. The Kaiser Family Foundation is not a partisan group. 
They have been studying healthcare trends and finance for decades. They 
determined that 140,000 citizens in the State of Connecticut will lose 
their health coverage as a result of this bill.
  As the dust has settled, we now know of one thing that didn't get a 
lot of attention. As a result of the deficit impact of this bill, which 
is going to add trillions of dollars to the national debt, it is going 
to trigger a sequestration, an automatic cut to the Medicare system. 
Medicare is the system that provides health insurance for people over 
65 and people on disability.
  That is $500 billion over the next 10 years. Again, it is going to be 
a cut across the board to hospitals, to physicians, and to a whole 
series of medical devices and pharmacy products that are covered by 
Medicare.
  Again, this is because of the reckless deficit spending that this 
bill creates. That is not me saying that. The calculation of the Joint 
Committee on Taxation was $3.7 trillion of new debt on top of the $36 
trillion of debt that we have today.
  The Wharton School of Finance, where President Trump attended school, 
calculated $3 trillion, as well. When they added the interest costs 
that are going to be paid on that additional deficit, that spending, 
that is going to push the number closer to $5 trillion.
  Again, today the deficit is $36 trillion. We are spending $89 billion 
a month in terms of interest costs on the existing debt. That is larger 
than what we spend in the Department of Defense on a monthly basis. It 
is bigger than any other account in the discretionary budget of this 
government.
  This bill accomplishes two harmful, damaging impacts to America which 
are, number one, 15 million people are going to lose their health 
insurance. We are also going to see the deficit grow by anywhere 
between $3 trillion and $5 trillion. For what? It is to reward the top 
1 percent whose tax cuts are going to be extended and enlarged for many 
over the coming years, leaving working families and the poor in the 
dust.
  We can do better than this as a nation. Again, it is not too late to 
stop this. The Senate is now going to take up this bill.
  The external pressure is going to rise up with the American Hospital 
Association and with patient groups like the American Cancer Society, 
the American Lung Association, Autism Speaks, and people who represent 
disability groups. They are rising up now to stop this bill because of 
the harm it is going to cause on individuals and families all across 
this country.
  It is time to stop this one big, ugly bill that is going to do so 
much damage to the American people.

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