WASHINGTON, June 29 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today gave remarks on the floor of the Senate opposing President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” which is a gift to the billionaire class while causing massive pain for working families.
Sanders remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below and can be watched HERE:
M. President: President Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill,” now on the floor of the Senate, is the most dangerous piece of legislation in the modern history of our country. It is a gift to the billionaire class, while causing massive pain for low income and working class Americans.
Actually though, M. President, I’m wrong. This is not a gift to the billionaire class. They paid for it.
This bill is an absolute reflection of a corrupt campaign finance system that allows billionaires to buy elections. And when billionaires spend hundreds of billions of dollars trying to elect a president, or a senator or a member of Congress, they’re not making that investment just for the fun of it. They want something in return. This legislation is what they are getting in return.
So what is in this bill they invested in?
Well, if you are in the top 1%, you and the class you represent will receive a $975 billion tax break – at a time when the richest people in this country have never had it so good.
Further, if you are among the wealthiest 0.2%, you will be able to pay zero taxes on your $30 million inheritance. All of you folks out there who are waiting to inherit at least $30 million, today is a good day for you. Collectively, you will receive approximately $211 billion in tax breaks. For the top 0.2%, congratulations. You hit the jackpot.
If you are a large corporation and you want to throw workers out on the street and replace them with artificial intelligence or you want to shift your profits to the Cayman Islands or other tax havens, you are going to get a $918 billion tax break. Congratulations to the CEOs of large, profitable corporations.
But while the rich and large corporations make out like bandits in this bill, what does it do for low-income and working families? Let me say a few words on that.
If you are concerned about health care, this bill throws over 16 million people off of the health insurance they have, according to the Congressional Budget Office, by cutting Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act by over $1.1 trillion.
In other words, the top 1% are getting a $975 billion tax break, and that is coming directly from throwing 16 million people off of the health insurance they have.
This bill, for the first time, forces millions of Medicaid recipients who make as little as $16,000 a year to pay a $35 co-payment each time they visit a doctor’s office.
What is the impact of all of that?
This is not my view — this is what the Yale School of Public Health and the University of Pennsylvania determined based on a study that they did. And this is the result. It is almost so horrific, so grotesque, that it is difficult to speak about. But they estimate that if this bill goes through with all of these cuts in health care — if 16 million people are thrown off the health care they have — over 50,000 Americans will die unnecessarily every year.
Fifty thousand Americans will die unnecessarily in order to give tax breaks to billionaires who don’t need them. In other words, this bill is literally a death sentence for low-income and working-class Americans.
Further, if this legislation is enacted, rural hospitals all over the country that are already struggling are going to shut down or aren’t going to be able to provide the level of services they do today. In other words, this bill would be a disaster for rural America.
It would also make massive cuts to community health centers and nursing homes, who are very heavily dependent on Medicaid funding.
The bottom line is that this legislation is the most significant attack on the health care needs of the American people in our country’s history.
We already have a health care system which is broken and dysfunctional, and instead of addressing it — instead of doing what every other major country on Earth does: guarantee health care to all people — we are throwing 16 million people off the health insurance they have. But it’s not just health care.
The future of America rests with our children. And yet, in a nation which now has the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on Earth, this bill wipes out nutrition assistance for millions of hungry kids in America.
We are literally taking food out of the mouths of hungry kids to give tax breaks to Mr. Bezos, Mr. Musk, Mr. Zuckerberg and the other multi-billionaires.
If we understand that if we’re going to compete effectively in the global economy, we need to have the best education system in the world, this bill makes $350 billion in cuts in education with the result that working class kids will find it much harder to get the higher education they need to succeed in life.
If you are concerned about the existential threat of climate change, this bill decimates investments in energy efficiency and sustainable energy like wind and solar and moves us in exactly the wrong direction when it comes to energy.
If you are concerned about our role in never-ending wars, this bill makes a bad situation even worse by handing out another $150 billion to the Pentagon – a 15% increase in an already bloated Pentagon budget.
We don’t have enough money to feed hungry children. We don’t have enough money to make sure that people continue to have the health care that they need. We don’t have enough money to make sure that kids can get a decent education. But somehow, the military industrial complex is going to get another $150 billion.
M. President: In my view, nobody in the Senate or the House should vote for this legislation. And I applaud all of the Democrats for voting against it. And I want to congratulate two Republicans — Senator Paul and Senator Tillis for voting against it — for different reasons than I have.
But I do find it interesting that when one of those senators, Senator Tillis, voted against it because he thought it was not a good bill for the people of his home state, North Carolina, suddenly the President of the United States went after him in a very vicious way. And today, he announced that he will not be seeking reelection.
It appears now that the Republican Party has really become the party of the cult of the individual. The only thing you have to do now as a Republican is say, “I agree with President Trump,” “I love President Trump,” “President Trump is right all of the time.” Hey, that’s all you have to do now to be a good Republican.
There was a day when Republicans and Democrats understood that they were elected by their constituents. There was an understanding that they were elected to represent their constituents and not simply to pay homage and bow down to every wish and whim of the president.
M. President, during the vote-a-rama, I will be offering several amendments which I hope will win support.
At a time when 22% of our nation’s seniors are trying to survive on less than $15,000 a year, my first amendment would fundamentally improve their lives in two significant ways:
Number one, it would cut the price of prescription drugs under Medicare in half by making sure that our nation’s seniors don’t pay more than the Europeans or Canadians pay for the same exact drugs.
And number two, with those savings, we’re going to expand Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing. In other words, instead of throwing people off of health care, we’re going to expand Medicare to provide a number of services that seniors desperately need and want.
Secondly, at a time of massive wealth and inequality, my second amendment would eliminate the $211 billion estate tax break for the top 0.2% that is included in this bill.
And lastly, at a time when we spend more on the military than the next nine nations combined, at a time when the Pentagon cannot account for trillions of dollars in assets, we are going to end the provision that allows the Pentagon to receive another $150 billion.
The bottom line, Mr. President, is this country faces many crises — a high rate of childhood poverty, kids going hungry, an education system in deep trouble and a health care system that is completely broken. And in virtually every single area, this bill takes us in precisely the wrong direction.
When the wealthiest people in this country have never ever had it so good, it is totally insane to be offering them $1 trillion in tax breaks so that we can cut health care, education and nutrition.
This bill is not what the American people want, and I hope very much we can defeat it.
