[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 96 (Thursday, June 5, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S3240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The Democratic leader is recognized.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, let me begin this morning with a sobering 
headline from the New York Times. Times headline: ``Millions Would Lose 
Their Obamacare Coverage Under Trump's Bill.'' That is exactly what 
Democrats have been warning about for weeks.
  What Republicans call their Big Beautiful Bill is really repeal and 
replace by another name. It is really repeal and replace by another 
name. It is a big beautiful betrayal, not a big beautiful bill.
  Yesterday, we learned that the devastation potentially has only 
worsened. The nonpartisan CBO has now grown the number of impacted 
Americans to 16 million. Sixteen million will lose their Medicaid and 
ACA coverage.
  So the more you look at this bill, things keep getting worse, because 
CBO now says that not 13.7 million would lose coverage but 16 million. 
The number of impacted people grows the more you look at this bill.
  Things keep getting even worse. We learned yesterday the news that 
Republicans may want to even go after Medicare. Medicare is on the 
chopping block. That is right--at yesterday's lunch, Republicans raised 
the possibility of Medicare cuts to pay for their billionaire tax cuts.
  The junior Senator from North Dakota reportedly said:

       Why don't we go after that? I think we should.

  For Republicans to even suggest Medicare be cut to bankroll 
billionaire tax breaks is frightening and revolting.
  There is more. The junior Senator from Louisiana said:

       I'm not worried about people losing their healthcare.

  Do you know what happens when people lose their healthcare, when they 
can't afford it? People die. But what do Republicans have to say about 
that? Well, the junior Senator from Iowa said this:

       Well, we're all going to die.

  That quote tells you everything you need to know about this plan--
callous, clueless, careless. That is right--this plan is callous, 
clueless, and careless. But that is the Republican Party for you these 
days. They don't get it or, more likely, they don't care--just so long 
as billionaires can pay less in taxes.
  Republicans should forget calling this gargoyle of a bill their Big 
Beautiful Bill. They might as well call it the We're all Going to Die 
Act after what the Senator from Iowa said. At least that name is more 
honest, the We're All Going to Die Act.
  Donald Trump may claim this bill won't cut anyone from coverage, but 
he is lying. Sixteen million people will lose coverage, and 11 million 
people will lose affordable food. Costs will spike, hospitals will 
close, and people will die. And why? For a tax break for billionaires.
  Now, let me finish with this on a separate note. In order to make the 
ultrarich even richer, their bill, according to CBO, would add over 
$2.4 trillion to the debt. Even Elon Musk calls this thing an 
``abomination''--his word.
  As the saying goes, a broken clock is right twice a day. The 
Republicans pride themselves as the supposed party of fiscal 
responsibility, but this bill they have belongs on the Mount Rushmore 
of fiscally irresponsible bills.
  So I close with a warning to Republicans in the Senate: If you 
proceed with this ``Big Ugly Bill,'' this big betrayal of the American 
people, it won't be Donald Trump's soothing words that will be enacted 
in your States but, rather, deep and devastating cuts, millions of job 
losses. You will rip healthcare from millions, you will explode the 
debt, and you will shower billionaires with tax breaks. That is what 
you will be doing no matter what Donald Trump tells you on the 
telephone, I say to our Republican Senate colleagues. Tread carefully. 
Tread carefully.