[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 112 (Saturday, June 28, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3607-S3608]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I want the American people to understand 
exactly what is 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 have 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 have scrambled to meet an entirely arbitrary deadline.
  So what did Republicans do late last night? It is hard to believe. 
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 in the last several hours, without knowing how 
many trillions it will cost. They don't even want to know the CBO 
score. They are afraid to show how badly this will increase the 
deficit--on this bill, a major bill that affects every part of American 
life; hiding the bill, hiding the CBO scores--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.

[[Page S3608]]

  And why are they doing all this? Why are they doing the biggest 
Medicaid cuts in history? Now it is getting close to a trillion dollars 
just in Medicaid alone. All to cut taxes for the ultrarich 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 would ``moderate'' the House 
clean energy cuts; that nobody would lose benefits. Well, all of that 
has gone out the window. Those supposed moderates on the other side are 
falling like dominos, ready to move on a bill that does precisely the 
opposite of what they claim.
  Many Republican Senators have admitted they are not happy with this 
bill. One said it will take away healthcare from working people, and 
yet they are still a yes on this bill. If Republican Senators are not 
happy with this bill because they know how badly it hurts their 
constituency, they should vote no. After all, they are U.S. 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 that 
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 Democrats don't like 
it; Independents don't 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--and I am sure we will hear from Senator 
Klobuchar shortly--are every bit as bad as in the House, the worst in 
history, ever. Those cuts are cruel. Those cuts are un-American. But it 
is what Republicans are getting ready to do.
  Meanwhile, Medicaid, where they have had so much controversy and 
back-and-forth--Medicaid 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 $1 trillion 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 $1 trillion in 
Medicaid alone, 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, far worse--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 is a drop in the bucket. This rural 
hospital fund is a figleaf. It is like putting a bandaid 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 is because of these cuts and no other 
reason. Rural hospitals, many of them, will close. This bandaid 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--dramatically. Every 
month, people hate paying those health insurance premiums. They are 
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--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, all wind 
and solar. Solar: the cheapest--the cheapest way to produce new energy, 
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 new sources of 
energy, all new sources--guess what--people's electricity bills will go 
up and up and up.
  When it comes to clean energy, the Republicans basically reverted and 
somehow exceeded the extreme policies that came out of the House. For 
days, they worked to modify those previsions, many Republicans, to make 
them less bad. Now, they have made them 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 be done--in less than 2 years from now in 
order to qualify for a tax break.
  And the provisions related to Chinese involvement--which, 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 are 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 is going to kill nearly every wind and solar project 
out there because the standard is laughably unrealistic. What does it 
mean? Projects already in the works will shut down. It means that 
people will lose their jobs--it is estimated 840,000 jobs. 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 likely becomes the world leader in 
energy production in years to come. Self-destructive. Needless. Harmful 
to both our economic and national security. It just shows how tight Big 
Oil's grip is on Senate Republicans.
  Remember, 80 percent of these clean energy investments, my 
colleagues, have gone to Republican districts. The investments support, 
as I said, over 800,000 jobs. Republicans are so beholden to the fossil 
fuel industry that they would rather kill jobs in their own communities 
than upset the Big Oil lobby. Disgusting, shameless, and done, of 
course, while most Americans were asleep.
  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 will gear up for another night of vote-arama very soon. We will 
expose this bill piece by piece. We will show how it cuts healthcare, 
raises costs, rewards the ultrarich.
  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 
political fortunes--their own political fortunes--and have no one to 
blame but themselves.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MORENO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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