Mr. President, let me tell you a story. It is one of the oldest in our country. It is the story of the American dream. It is one of perseverance, where anyone, regardless of their background or circumstances, can achieve success and upward…
Mr. President, let me tell you a story. It is one of the oldest in our country. It is the story of the American dream. It is one of perseverance, where anyone, regardless of their background or circumstances, can achieve success and upward mobility through hard work and determination. It means a job that pays a fair wage, a school that prepares our kids for a better life, a doctor who sees you when you are sick, and a roof over your head at night.
We are now in the midst of debating soon a ``reconciliation'' bill. For those not familiar with the term, it is basically a special budget bill. If you consider this a legislative organization or body--and I do--if we were accused of legislating this year, I am afraid there is not enough evidence to convict us.
We have been in session now for 5 months. We passed five bills--one a month. If we were being paid for piecework, we would have been left behind for the last 5 months.
But now comes this reconciliation bill that tries to do everything at once. It is starting over in the House of Representatives. Assuming it passes there, it will come over here.
What does it do, this reconciliation bill, this spending bill, budget-cutting bill? It dismantles the American dream, and it strips our institutions of essential services that help the most vulnerable people of our country--all so that the ultimate goal can be served. And what is that goal? To give larger tax breaks to wealthy people.
If you don't have time to read more than a thousand pages of these cuts in this reconciliation bill, let me give you a shortened version. It isn't pretty. Billionaires will win; American families will lose.
President Trump asked Republicans in Congress to provide a massive giveaway to the richest Americans. They want to use programs like Medicaid, food and nutrition programs, and medical research funding as a piggy bank for these tax cuts for wealthy people.
Let's take Medicaid for example. Medicaid insures one in four people in my home State of Illinois. One out of four--3.4 million--people are on Medicaid, including 1.5 million children.
How important is it? Medicaid is a program, an insurance program, that covers nearly half of all births in our State. Two-thirds of nursing home residents receive Medicaid assistance. That is your mom, your dad, your grandparents. The majority of patients with mental health counseling count on Medicaid. A majority of the money for mental health counseling comes from that program. It is a lifeline for children's hospitals. It is a lifeline for rural hospitals.
Knowing how unpopular it is to deprive Americans of healthcare, for months, the Republicans have said: Democrats have it all wrong. We are not cutting Medicaid benefits. We are simply focusing on waste, fraud, and abuse.
If there is a program that is wasteful and fraudulent, put me in line to do something about it. I don't want to see any taxpayers' money wasted. But that is not what would happen here, and I am afraid my colleagues on the other side of the aisle know it.
With their plans, Republicans are taking a chain saw to our healthcare system and ripping health insurance away. At the end of the day, their reconciliation proposal will remove Medicaid insurance from 14 million Americans.
Mr. President, if you have ever lived in a circumstance where you had no health insurance, it is a sobering, unforgettable experience. I have been there--a sick child and no health insurance. It is something you will never forget.
The reconciliation plan of the Republicans buries elderly patients in complex paperwork requirements that will wrap them up in so much redtape, they will never get the care they need.
Just think, if you have illness in the family, a serious illness, you have to go through a high-stakes government-redtape gauntlet--another government form, another telephone recording when you need a helping hand.
It decimates the funding system for Medicaid, which will force rural hospitals to cut services or close altogether. Three weeks ago, 20 hospital administrators from my State came. Most of them were from downstate, where I live, where I grew up. They told the story of what the reconciliation bill means to them--cutting services in communities, closing down critical hospitals.
Instead of 20 minutes for that pregnant woman, with her first baby, to get to the doctor, to get to the hospital--instead of 20 minutes, it will be an hour and 20 minutes. Does it make a difference? How would you like to be driving in the car under those circumstances? You will never forget it.
Republicans are also targeting food and nutrition programs like SNAP. Forty million Americans rely on these programs to put food on the table, including nearly 2 million in Illinois. They are looking to cut food and nutrition benefits by as much as $290 billion--the largest cut to anti-hunger funding in our Nation's history.
I was home in Springfield over the weekend. My wife came back from the grocery store, and she said, ``I can't believe these prices.'' Prices are too high, and they keep going higher. What do the Republicans want to do? Cut the benefits to pay for this food that the people need to put on the table. It will take food assistance away from 6 million Americans.
How much money do people receive? Well, it turns out the average SNAP recipient--the food nutrition program at the Federal level--the average recipient would be paid $5 a day. Try to live on $5 a day. Imagine what their life must be like.
That is right--the Republican reconciliation bill will take food off the tables of seniors and children so they can pay for these billionaire tax cuts. If that sounds like an exaggeration, it is not.
As Republicans strip Americans of their healthcare and SNAP benefits, millionaires and billionaires will continue to see tax breaks coming their way. In their bill, Republicans give huge tax breaks to multibillion-dollar corporations. They exempt up to $28 million in taxes from estates that the wealthiest Americans pass on to their children.
In the same breath, they fail to expand the child tax credit, which is one of the most effective tools to reduce poverty and put money back in the pockets of working families. Remember, it was Democrats who expanded the child tax credit in the American Rescue Plan, which led to a historic reduction in poverty in the United States. Research showed that child poverty fell immediately and substantially to the lowest on record--5.2 percent.
So who needs a tax break--working families or the wealthiest people in our country? For me, the answer is obvious.
Republicans are also planning to eliminate the clean energy tax credit enacted in the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act, which would derail efforts to strengthen U.S. energy security and lower costs. This would hurt American families and small businesses by hitting them with higher energy bills and the loss of nearly 800,000 jobs over the next 5 years. Some States could see double-digit percentage increases in electricity bills, which means hundreds of dollars out of Americans' pockets each year.
Just a few hours ago, the White House claimed their reckless plan ``does not add to the deficit.'' Someone said that with a straight face. But in reality, it explodes the deficit under the guise of fiscal responsibility. The White House and Republican reconciliation plan would add $3.3 trillion to the Nation's deficit over the next 10 years for tax breaks for wealthy people. President Trump's recordbreaking deficit in his first term will reach new depths of debt to pay for billionaire tax cuts.
Donald Trump is claiming that his sprawling trade war will somehow pay for this bill, but no one buys that, and no one can even explain it the way he does. America's small businesses, workers, farmers, and families are hurting because of this administration's tariffs, while the President continues to weaken America's credibility and alienate us from our biggest trading partners.
If all of this wasn't bad enough, Republican Speaker Johnson cut a deal for Members of the House Freedom Caucus over the weekend in order to move this bill. It is reported that they discussed accelerating the plan to condition Medicaid health coverage on redtape requirements-- these were originally set for 2029; they now want to end people's insurance as soon as possible, maybe by the end of next year--as well as a quicker phaseout of clean energy tax credits that were put into law as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
That is right--the package isn't bad enough for conservative Republicans to support, so they are considering making it even worse for American families.
Americans of all political affiliations rely on the critical services that Republicans plan to cut, not just Democrats. Slashing lifesaving healthcare and cutting food and nutrition benefits for mothers trying to feed their families will hurt Americans in blue and red States.
I heard my colleagues give speeches about tough choices. Let me tell you, choosing to line the pockets of people like Elon Musk while cutting lifesaving medical research isn't tough, it is shameful.
American families aren't asking for special treatment. They are asking for a fair shot at the American dream. They are asking us to remember that this country works best when we invest in its people.
We need four Republicans with good sense to join Democrats and say no to this disaster. Two have already stepped forward. We need two more. The sooner the better.
I yield the floor.