🔰Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on the GOP Budget Proposal

Now, a few moments ago, House Republicans plowed ahead on a morally and financially bankrupt plan to gut Medicaid while cutting taxes for billionaires. Republicans did just what their boss told them to do. They closed their eyes and voted for a bill knowing damn well it will explode the deficit by $52 trillion and kick millions off health care. They voted it knowing damn well that American families lose and billionaires win. They voted for it knowing damn well it would gut critical investments for the American people. They voted for it knowing damn well it would mortgage our nation's future to deliver massive giveaways to the wealthiest Americans in the country. Republicans incinerated any credibility that remained about them supposedly being the party of fiscal responsibility. Last week, we sounded the alarm about how the Republican budget resolution was the definition of wasteful spending, $37 trillion, or so we thought of the national debt. I say or so we thought because this morning, we have discovered it's even worse than we feared. This morning, the Congressional Budget Office, at Jeff's request, released a new projection showing Republicans' billionaire tax giveaways will actually add $52 trillion to the debt, not just $37 plus. It's gotten even worse, even worse. Why? Because Republicans in the Senate didn't just copy and paste the 2017 Trump tax bill. They added over a trillion more. This is the Trump's tax scam on steroids, and it's going to bankrupt America. Bankrupt America. All so they can give these tax breaks to the billionaires. It is just incredible. To repeat, today Republicans are plowing forward on their deeply unpopular agenda. While Elon Musk and Doge dismantle Social Security, Congressional Republicans are slashing Medicaid, all the while cutting taxes for billionaires and $52 trillion to the debt. The many individual pieces of the Republican agenda are bad on their own, but when they're put together, they're utterly toxic. The struggles Republicans have faced so far are only a glimmer of what's to come. If they had it hard on the budget resolution, imagine how hard it's going to be on reconciliation, with all their contradictory promises clashing with each other. It's no wonder they're a shambles. It's no wonder that Senate Republicans are fighting with each other, that House Republicans are fighting with each other, and House and Senate Republicans are fighting with each other, because their agenda is so unpopular. Different segments of the party each want to run away from different parts of this agenda, but none of it is popular. It's amazing. They're doing what a small group of billionaires want, against the American people's interest, against what America needs. So today and going forward, the only question that matters is this. Are they really going to sign their names to a bill that adds $52 trillion to the debt, slashes Medicaid, all so that billionaires can pay less in taxes? With Donald Trump changing his tariff strategy like it's some kind of game of red light, green light, do Republicans seriously believe now is a good time to saddle our children with debt that they'll never be able to pay off? If Republicans ultimately pass their reconciliation bill, interest rates in the future will soar. America's greatness will diminish, perhaps never recovered. It would be a great decline in the American dollar. So much for Republicans being the party that takes the responsibility. That's out the window. And the worst part is that the Republicans can't even be honest with the American people about how expensive their bill is. Republicans continue to pursue budget fraud through this current policy baseline, something the Senate has never, never used before in reconciliation. In fact, when they tried it back in 2017, it was rejected. They avoided the question last week, but make no mistake about it, they're now full speed ahead on breaking the rules of the Senate and breaking their word to get it done. Why are Republicans holding it simple? They want to cut taxes for billionaires and make our kids pay for it.