{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2025-06-28-pt1-PgS3651", "2025-06-28", 119, 1, null, null, "LEGISLATIVE SESSION", "SENATE", "SENATE", "SLEGISLATIVE", "S3651", "S3663", "[{\"name\": \"Thom Tillis\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Jeanne Shaheen\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Richard J. Durbin\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Tammy Baldwin\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Amy Klobuchar\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Jacky Rosen\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Chris Van Hollen\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Peter Welch\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Angus S. King Jr.\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", "[{\"congress\": \"119\", \"type\": \"HR\", \"number\": \"1\"}, {\"congress\": \"119\", \"type\": \"HR\", \"number\": \"1\"}]", "171 Cong. Rec. S3651", "Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 112 (Saturday, June 28, 2025)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 112 (Saturday, June 28, 2025)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S3651-S3663]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION\n\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will now resume legislative\nsession.\n  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I also ask indulgence for one more minute.\n  This is really easy. Yesterday was my 38th wedding anniversary. I\nhave convinced Susan Tillis to stay married to me for 38 years. I wish\nI was going to be with her and a couple of dozen family members down at\nthe beach, but I am doing my work here, and I am going to stay until it\nis done.\n  I also want to wish my grandson--they are celebrating his second\nbirthday today down there at that same beach house--happy birthday.\n  God bless my family. I love you.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.\n\n                                 H.R. 1\n\n  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I am sorry to see my colleague Senator\nTillis leave before I have a chance to tell him how much I am going to\nmiss him.\n  We have worked together on a number of things, including the Senate\nNATO Observer Group. He has been a great partner, an excellent Senator,\nand I am sorry to hear that he is not going to be staying in this body.\n  But, Mr. President, I am really here on this floor to oppose the\nreconciliation bill that we are considering today. It would be the\nlargest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in a single bill\nin our history.\n  This legislation would take away healthcare for millions of\nAmericans; it would cut food aid for millions more; it would raise\nhousehold energy and healthcare bills; and it would add trillions to\nthe debt, all to give the top, not just 1 percent but the top 0.1\npercent of people who make more than $2.5 million a year an extra\n$250,000 a year.\n  At a moment when Americans are struggling with the high cost of\nliving, this bill will take money out of the pockets of working people,\nthe average household making less than $50,000. That is 30 percent of\nAmericans. So 30 percent of Americans will lose about $700 a year from\nthis bill.\n  Here are some of the ways that it hurts middle-class Americans, the\npeople whom I am very proud to represent in New Hampshire: Somehow, the\nSenate took the bad bill--or what I thought was a bad bill--from the\nHouse, and they have made it much, much worse.\n  This bill is the largest cut to healthcare in American history. In\ntotal, the bill proposes more than $1 trillion--$1 trillion--in cuts to\nMedicaid and the Affordable Care Act--$930 billion of that is Medicaid\nalone. Because of these cuts, more than 300 rural\n\n[[Page S3652]]\n\nhospitals could close, more than 500 nursing homes could close. These\nare core programs and services that benefit seniors, children,\nveterans, people living with disabilities, and working families.\n  The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 17 million Americans,\nincluding 43,000 Granite Staters, would lose their health insurance.\n  Over the past several weeks, the past couple of months, I have toured\nNew Hampshire. I have heard from countless constituents who are deeply\nanxious about what this bill means for them and for their families.\n  Again and again, they have said plainly, without Medicaid, without\nthe Affordable Care Act, they would not be here today.\n  I heard from Danielle in Dalton, northern New Hampshire. Danielle is\na proud mother of three sons, two of whom have autism. Danielle's sons\nrely on Medicaid for their health coverage and for their home care.\nDanielle is not only their full-time caregiver; she receives a stipend\nfrom Medicaid to provide for their care. And thanks to Medicaid, both\nof her sons are able to work part-time, they are able to live at home\nwith their mom, and they are able to remain active in the community.\n  This bill would put all of that at risk. Danielle says her sons could\nhave difficulty qualifying for Medicaid under these new rules, and\nlosing Medicaid would be catastrophic for her family because it would\nlikely force her sons out of work, out of her home, and into a group\nhome or institution. So it is going to cost a lot more if that happens.\n  Her boys are now contributing members of society, and this bill\nthreatens not only their livelihood and their independence and their\nfuture, it threatens their dignity.\n  I heard from Shawn in Claremont. Shawn shared with me his story of\naddiction to alcohol, cocaine, and heroin and his long road to\nrecovery. After several near-death experiences, he found stability in a\nsober living home and enrolled in Medicaid. With access to treatment,\nhe was able to hold a job and get his life back on track.\n  He eventually opened his own sober living home, Hope 2 Freedom, where\nhe now helps others suffering from addiction so that they can enroll in\nMedicaid and begin their own journey to sobriety.\n  I heard from Karla in Exeter. Karla has twin 3-year-old boys, one of\nwhom had serious medical complications at birth. Now, she always was\nable to have health insurance with her job, but as her family's medical\nbills piled up, she enrolled her son in Medicaid to ensure that he got\nthe care that her family could not afford and her employer-sponsored\nhealth insurance wouldn't pay for. He still needs extensive care to\nthis day, and losing her coverage would put her family into devastating\nmedical debt.\n  Probably the story I heard that touched me as much as any was from a\nman in Berlin, in northern New Hampshire. He had had a number of\nsubstance misuse issues, mental health challenges.\n  He said: Without Medicaid, without the center--we were at a center\nwhere Medicaid helped pay to support people who needed help. He said:\nWithout this, I would just give up; I would commit suicide because\nthere would be nothing for me.\n  These are just a handful of the countless stories I have heard these\npast few months. They are about real people.\n  This bill isn't just words on a page; it is a direct attack on not\nonly their health and their economic security but their very dignity,\ntheir ability to have fulfilling lives and to contribute back to their\ncommunities and to society. We owe them better than this.\n  This bill would also make catastrophic cuts to food assistance that\nis provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also\nknown as SNAP. During this time of high food prices, of increasing food\ninsecurity, it is particularly critical for families to be able to rely\non SNAP to help them keep food on the table.\n  One of the ways this bill cuts the program is by requiring States to\npay higher costs. Now, as the former Governor of New Hampshire, I can\ntell you how much of a burden this is on our State's budget. And there\nare all kinds of provisions in this bill that are nothing but massive\ncost shifts to States, and this is one area.\n  The bill puts food assistance at risk for families with teenage\nchildren as well as older adults, veterans, and individuals\nexperiencing homelessness. In New Hampshire, an estimated 1,000 older\nadults could lose SNAP access. These cuts will mean increased hunger\nacross the country.\n  You know, we talk a lot about kitchen table issues here. Passing this\nbill is an explicit vote to take food off of families' kitchen tables.\n  I heard from Rachel. She is a care coordinator at a behavioral health\ncenter in Claremont, which is in the western part of New Hampshire. She\ntold me:\n\n       SNAP is not just a program--it is a lifeline. For the\n     parents I work with, it means being able to send their\n     children to school with full stomachs and functioning minds.\n     For caregivers struggling to make ends meet, it provides some\n     peace of mind knowing there will be something on the table\n     each night. And for children--many of whom are navigating\n     mental health challenges--SNAP supports stability, dignity\n     and health during formative years. Without SNAP, the strain\n     on these already vulnerable families would increase\n     exponentially.\n\n  She goes on to say:\n\n       SNAP is not a handout--it is a step forward for families\n     working hard to survive and succeed against overwhelming\n     odds.\n\n  On the energy front, for families concerned about energy costs, this\nbill only offers more pain. In addition to cutting off tremendously\nsuccessful incentives for electricity that are adding reliable,\naffordable, and clean energy to the grid at a record pace, this bill\ncuts off longstanding tax credits for consumers--for average, everyday\nAmericans--to make energy-saving improvements to their homes or to add\nrooftop solar to take control of their own energy bills.\n  After countless promises to lower people's energy bills, this\nlegislation would do just the opposite. Last year, 2.3 million families\ntook advantage of the home energy efficiency tax credit and cut an\naverage $130 off of their yearly energy bills. Now, this may not sound\nlike a lot to the Mar-a-Lago crowd, but it makes a big difference for\nfamilies in New Hampshire who worry about how they are going to heat\ntheir homes. American households are expected to pay an extra $170\nbillion in energy bills over the next 10 years, thanks to the misplaced\npriorities in this bill.\n  Add to that 1.5 million good jobs that are likely to go away, and it\nmakes you wonder if supporters of this bill have actually read it or if\nthey actually care about American energy dominance.\n  And on taxes, this bill spends more than $4 trillion on tax cuts,\nincluding nearly $1 trillion in new tax breaks for the biggest\ncorporations. But for taxpayers earning less than $30,000 a year, they\nwould see an average tax increase.\n  Let me say that again because I didn't say that quite right with the\nright emphasis: For taxpayers earning less than $30,000 a year, they\nwould see an average tax increase in 2029. And these are the same\nfamilies who are going to be harmed most by extreme cuts to Medicaid\nand SNAP. Families making under $50,000 are likely to be worse off, and\nsome could lose more than $1,500 a year under this bill.\n  So if you add to that the effects of Trump's tariffs, which raise the\ncost of living for a typical family by $2,000 a year, this makes it\neven worse for families. So the bottom 80 percent of households, those\nmaking less than $175,000, will be worse off, on average, under this\nbill.\n\n  Now, I have talked about how this bill makes families pay more for\nhealthcare, for energy, and food in order to give more money to\nbillionaires, but there are a few other things that people should know.\nFirst, because of the trillions of dollars this bill would add to the\ndebt, interest rates are likely to go up. That adds more than $1,000 a\nyear for a typical mortgage.\n  This bill makes it harder for students to afford the cost of college,\nand it removes debt protections for students who have been defrauded by\ntheir schools.\n  And this bill actually tries to prohibit States from regulating AI\nfor the next 10 years, making it that much harder to keep our kids safe\nonline and to protect jobs from being lost to the use of this\ntechnology.\n  You know, I was first elected to the New Hampshire State Senate more\n\n[[Page S3653]]\n\nthan 30 years ago. This bill that we are considering today would do\nmore harm to more people than any other law I have seen in my entire\ntime in public office.\n  This bill makes having a family more expensive by raising the cost of\nenergy, healthcare, and education. This bill takes food and healthcare\naway from seniors and families, and it does all of that--it does all of\nthat--to give trillions of dollars more to corporations and to the\nwealthiest. And it explodes our deficit in the process. That is not\nwhat the people of New Hampshire are asking for, and it is not what\nAmericans deserve.\n  So, to my colleagues in the Senate, I say this: At a moment when\nAmericans are feeling squeezed by the cost of living, we should be\ndoing something about that.\n  Instead of gutting healthcare to pay for tax cuts, we should be\nexpanding access to affordable, quality care.\n  Instead of turning our backs on working parents, we should be making\nhousing more affordable. And we should ensure that every child has\naccess to high quality, affordable early education.\n  Instead of cutting nutrition programs, let's make sure that no child\nin America goes hungry.\n  Instead of driving up food and energy prices, let's invest in the\nprograms that help American families succeed.\n  President Trump calls this the Big Beautiful Bill, but it is a big\nbetrayal of the American people. There is nothing beautiful about\ntaking away healthcare and food from working families to give more\nmoney to billionaires.\n  So I intend to vote against this legislation, and I urge all of my\ncolleagues to do the same.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.\n  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I don't believe you can serve in the U.S.\nSenate without being, at least, an amateur student of history. You are\noverwhelmed in this Chamber, which is where the Senate has met since\n1859, to reflect on all of the things that have occurred in the past,\nand you remember your own experience there as well. I certainly do.\n  This is my 29th year of service in the Senate, and I think back this\nevening to some of the things which I have witnessed and that still\nstick with me.\n  I can still see that door open and Ted Kennedy walk through it,\nsummoned from his deathbed in Massachusetts to cast the deciding vote\non the Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare. He wouldn't miss it, even if it\nmeant he was going to die in the process.\n  I think of that door over there, when President Trump, in his first\nterm, tried to, basically, eliminate the Affordable Care Act, and it\nwas saved at the last minute, at 2 in the morning, when John McCain\ncame through those doors, stood in the well right by that table through\nthe Republican side, and cast his vote no. He couldn't raise his arm,\nit had been damaged so badly when he served as a prisoner of war during\nVietnam, but you knew how decisive his gesture was. And he saved\nhealthcare for millions of Americans.\n  There were other moments as well that I can reflect on, but the point\nI would like to get to is this: There was a speech a few minutes ago on\nthe floor of the U.S. Senate which every Senator should have heard,\nparticularly every Republican Senator.\n  The Senator from North Carolina gave a speech--Senator Tillis--and\nexplained why he decided to vote against this Republican budget plan,\nthis reconciliation bill. He explained it in a thoughtful and\ncomprehensive and convincing way. But before he made his decision, he\nturned to Republicans in the State and Democrats and a neutral third\nparty to analyze the bill. He concluded, after that careful study, that\nthis measure, the changes in Medicaid and Medicare and other health\nprograms, would be a disaster for the State of North Carolina.\n  He had made it clear before tonight that he was going to vote against\nthis bill, and he made it clear this morning that he is preparing to\nretire from the Senate.\n  I felt his statement was compelling, and I am sorry that there\nweren't other Members on the Republican side, at least one beyond the\nPresiding Officer, present to hear it.\n  It is seldom that you hear a speech on the floor of the Senate that\nyou know is so personal and so heartfelt and so meaningful as the\nstatement made by Senator Tillis earlier. He made a decision, which\nwill be widely reported, I am sure, and showed a level of political\ncourage which is seldom seen in this Chamber.\n  He basically said in a positive way that the President was wrong in\nbelieving that this wouldn't hurt ordinary people. This Republican\nmeasure, which is before us tonight and tomorrow is going to hurt a lot\nof people.\n  We estimate that 16 million American families will lose their health\ninsurance as a result of this measure that is on the floor today.\n  I have said it before, but I want to repeat it. If you have ever been\nthe father of a new baby with a serious medical problem and you have no\nhealth insurance, you will never forget that moment as long as you\nlive. I know. I have been there.\n  I went to the charity ward at Children's Hospital as a student of\nGeorgetown Law School with my wife and baby. We waited in line to see\nwhich doctor would walk through the door and see my baby and save her\nlife. You feel that you have let everyone down in the world at that\npoint when you don't have health insurance when you need it so badly.\nIt means so much to you.\n  This bill is designed to take health insurance away from 11 million\nfamilies in America. Eleven million families in America in a period of\ntime will not have peace of mind that they have access to the best care\nbecause they will have lost their health insurance.\n  What is it about Donald Trump taking away coverage of healthcare? Why\nhas this become the trademark of the Donald Trump Republican Party? He\ndid it in his first term. He tried to, but John McCain stopped him, and\nnow he is trying to do it again.\n  The question is whether Senator Tillis and his Republican colleagues\ncan muster enough courage to step up and find four Republican Senators\nwho will say: No. No. I am not going there. I don't want it on my\nconscious or my record that I took health insurance away from so many\nAmerican people.\n  Now, you may argue: Durbin you are a Democrat--and I am--and your\narguments have to be tempered because you are so partisan, so\npolitical. Surely it isn't as bad as you just said it was.\n  Well, let me read something to you. It is from a group called the\nAmerican Cancer Society. I am sure you have heard of it. This is their\nCancer Action Network, and it is a letter to the Senate from Lisa\nLacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action\nNetwork. Here is what she says about the measure that is pending before\nus now that we are being asked to vote on. It is from the American\nCancer Society Cancer Action Network:\n\n       History will be made with this vote. Congress has one last\n     chance to stop this unprecedented attack on access to\n     healthcare for millions of Americans, including cancer\n     patients and survivors. Congress can say `no' to terminating\n     health coverage for nearly 11 million people who will have no\n     other affordable option available to them if this bill\n     passes.\n       Currently, 1 in 10 people with a history of cancer have\n     Medicaid coverage, including 1 in 3 kids who are newly\n     diagnosed with cancer. We know having quality health coverage\n     is one of the most significant factors in whether someone\n     survives a cancer diagnosis. Voting for this bill means\n     voting to rip the chance of survival away from real people.\n\n  She goes on to say:\n\n       Simply put, this bill will mean more Americans are living\n     sicker and dying sooner.\n\n  Then she said:\n\n       Lives are on the line.\n\n  So if you are skeptical about anything that I say because of my\npartisan background, I understand. But for goodness' sake, when the\nAmerican Cancer Society--they have such a definitive statement made\nthat this measure we are being asked to vote on is going to harm\ninnocent people--men, women, and children. That is a fact.\n  I might add another short message we received from the Children's\nHospital Association. Matthew Cook is their president and CEO, and here\nis what he says about this bill that is pending:\n\n       The new version of the budget reconciliation bill is a\n     crisis for children's health care, hospitals, and providers\n     nationwide, and we ask Congress to oppose it as an act of\n     support for America's children. The bill goes\n\n[[Page S3654]]\n\n     much too far. . . . The bill amounts to fewer doctors and\n     nurses to see your child, longer wait times, and sicker\n     children. We know that the impacts of poor pediatric health\n     care reverberate for a lifetime.\n\n  That is from the Children's Hospital Association.\n  Neither of these organizations is a partisan organization, and they\nhave confirmed what Senator Tillis said earlier on behalf of the State\nof North Carolina and what those of us on this side of the aisle have\nbeen saying all along.\n  Why would we risk the lives and well-being of so many children, so\nmany American families? What is it about the trillion dollars which we\nwill take out of the healthcare system in America that is so pressing,\nso demanding that we are willing to make these big risks? I will tell\nyou what it is. It is the extension of tax breaks--tax breaks for the\nwealthiest people.\n  Oh, Durbin, you Democrats always talk about billionaires and\nmillionaires. It can't be true.\n  Senator Angus King is here. He told me that he did an analysis of the\nactual tax breaks. If I remember correctly, if you do a cut-off of\nincome at $400,000 a year and say anyone over that figure is not going\nto receive any tax break, you would reduce the cost of this tax program\nby 60 percent or more--60 percent or more.\n  So when we talk about tax breaks for the wealthiest people in\nAmerica, that is exactly what this is about. I want to give tax breaks,\nif we can, to working families that struggle paycheck to paycheck. For\ngoodness' sake, a $346,000 tax cut for Elon Musk, the richest man on\nEarth? What are we thinking?\n  I just want to make quick reference to two States that have an\nexperience coming with this bill, which will be dramatic. One is\nKansas. In Kansas, 360,000 individuals rely on Medicaid coverage.\nFifty-six percent of them are children. But with this bill, 89,000\npeople in Kansas are going to lose their health insurance.\n  In Kansas, Medicaid covers one-third of births and 58 percent of\nnursing home residents. What happens when Medicaid does not pay enough\nmoney to the nursing home to keep your mother in good care or your\nfather or someone in your family? What do you do next? Well, you\nexhaust the savings that are available to your family. If that isn't\nenough, what is next? I don't know.\n  When I grew up, as a kid, there was a spare bedroom in my\ngrandparents' home for brothers and sisters who had no place else to\ngo. I suppose that is going to happen to some families.\n\n  Already, 28 rural hospitals in Kansas are at immediate risk of\ncloture. To think that this measure will have no impact on those\nfamilies and those communities is just plain wrong.\n  In the adjoining State of Missouri--I grew up across the river, the\nMississippi River; I grew up in Illinois; I grew up across the river\nfrom St. Louis, MO--1.2 million individuals rely on Medicaid coverage.\nFifty percent are children. With this bill, 250,000 people in Missouri\nare projected to lose their health insurance. Medicaid covers 40\npercent of births in Missouri and 65 percent of nursing home residents.\n  Already, 10 rural hospitals in Missouri are at immediate risk of\nclosure. Mr. President, you know as well as I do what happens in\nsmalltown America, rural America, when they close the hospital. It is\ndevastating--not just because you don't have access to quality\nhealthcare but because you just lost a major economic engine for that\ncommunity. Try to attract a new business to that town after the\nhospital closes. Watch what you run into. It is that devastating.\n  That is the reality of this approach. And why are we doing it? What\nis the national energy that calls on us to make this change? Tax breaks\nfor the wealthiest people in the America. That is what is motivating\nthe Republicans now.\n  I want to close and just say thank you to Senator Tillis. He has\nshown extraordinary courage. The question is whether others will join\nhim, whether four Republican Senators will step up and say: Enough. I\nhave heard enough. I have seen enough. I believe this is wrong.\n  There are ways we can help people who need a tax break rather than\nthe wealthiest people that won't damage some of these families. Eleven\nmillion, 16 million--whatever the number turns out to be--will lose\nhealth insurance.\n  I hope that we come to our senses and do it soon. I hope what Senator\nTillis said on the floor will inspire Members of his own caucus to\nlisten carefully, to know that he speaks the truth and has taken great\npolitical risk to say it.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Rounds). The Senator from Wisconsin.\n  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I am proud to join my midwestern\ncolleagues today to draw attention to what will happen in our States if\nthis bill were to come to pass. So I rise today on behalf of the 17\nmillion Americans who are poised to have their healthcare terminated\nbecause of the Republicans' disastrous budget bill.\n  While I am laser-focused on the nearly 260,000 Wisconsinites whose\nhealthcare will be placed in jeopardy by this measure, I realize that\nso many Americans who reside in States that are represented by\nRepublicans don't have a voice in this fight right now on this Senate\nfloor.\n  You know, I have traveled my State extensively, listening to people\ntalk about how this bill would impact them and their families, and I\nhave shared those stories, I have uplifted those stories, sometimes\nright here on the Senate floor and sometimes in other ways.\n  I know that my Republican colleagues are getting the same influx of\nphone calls and letters that I am getting from parents of children with\ndisabilities, from the elderly and folks who are working hard but just\ncan't keep up. These are constituents who are downright scared that\nthey will have the rug pulled out from under them.\n  I know my Republican colleagues are hearing from their rural\nhospitals and their pediatricians who are clear about what this bill\nwill mean for their ability to keep their doors open and to care for\ntheir patients.\n  According to reports, my colleague from Kentucky even admitted as\nmuch behind closed doors last week, saying that ``I know a lot of us\nare hearing from people back home about Medicaid.'' But rather than\ncommitting to join us in this fight, he said ``They'll get over it''\nand urged his colleagues to forge ahead with this bill.\n  Well, if my Republican colleagues won't fight for these Americans, I\nthink it is well past time that some of us do. That is why I am proud\nto be standing with my midwestern Democratic colleagues to do and say\nsomething about it.\n  I am here to stand up for the over half a million midwestern\nAmericans in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and the Dakotas whose\nhealthcare is on the chopping block if Republicans jam through this\nterrible budget bill.\n  In just those 6 States alone, over 340,000 Americans will lose their\nAffordable Care Act coverage, and over 225,000 Americans will be kicked\noff Medicaid if the Republicans get their bill and their way. In Iowa,\nover 100,000 Americans' care could be on the chopping block, including\nover 58,000 Americans whose families rely on Medicaid.\n  When we talk about hundreds of thousands of people losing healthcare\ncoverage, it can sometimes get lost that this actually means people,\nnot numbers. The numbers we are talking about are people. They have\nfaces, they have stories, they have families, and they matter.\n  Take Patrick Kearns, a registered nurse in Iowa City at the VA\nMedical Center and father of two adult children with disabilities. He\ntold the Des Moines Register:\n\n       My children are not scamming the system. The idea that\n     they're somehow gaming the system at the detriment to the\n     rest of society, especially when people like Elon Musk are\n     using words like `parasite' to describe my children--anger\n     doesn't quite encompass how I feel.\n\n  He continued:\n\n       I just find it shocking that you would go after truly the\n     most vulnerable people, as if they are somehow conducting\n     fraud. These folks are barely surviving.\n\n  In Kansas, where nearly 90,000 Americans' health coverage is at risk,\nincluding 18,000 Kansans on Medicaid, Kathy and Jacob shared the story\nof their adopted sister Mireya, who suffered a traumatic brain injury\nat just 4 weeks old--I am sorry--7 weeks old. Because of Medicaid, the\nfamily could afford at-home nursing services before their sister passed\naway in 2024.\n\n[[Page S3655]]\n\n  Jacob told the Kansas Reflector:\n\n       This is not right or left. This is truly a human right.\n     Yes, we want to get rid of fraud. People using the support,\n     that's not fraud. That's called helping people live their\n     best life in the most respectful and dignified way possible.\n\n  In Missouri, 250,000 Americans' care is on the chopping block,\nincluding over 100,000 with Medicaid.\n  In the suburb of St. Louis, Sandra told the Kaiser Family Foundation\nHealth News that she worries about her 20-year-old daughter Sarah and\nthe 24-hour service she needs, including in-home nursing.\n  Sandra said:\n\n       I really and truly don't know what I would do if we lost\n     the Medicaid home care. I have no plan whatsoever. It is not\n     sustainable for anyone to do infinite, 24-hour care without\n     dire physical health, mental health, and financial\n     consequences, especially as we parents get into our elder\n     years.''\n\n  In Nebraska, 74,000 people could lose coverage, including 26,000\nAmericans on Medicaid. Dr. Ann Anderson Berry, who works at Children's\nHospital in Omaha, NE, told Nebraska Public Media that these cuts would\ngreatly harm those in Nebraska's rural communities.\n  According to Dr. Anderson Berry, ``this is not just a health care\nissue; it's a workforce issue, an education issue, an economic issue.\nCommunities without access to safe childbirth cannot attract or retain\nyoung families. They struggle to grow, and they suffer generational\nconsequences. Nebraska simply deserves better. Our rural families\ndeserve better. Cutting Medicaid may save money on the spreadsheet, but\nit will cost lives in real communities and put the expensive burden of\ncare back on our communities.''\n  In South Dakota, 31,000 Americans' insurance is at risk under this\nbill, including 12,000 Americans on Medicaid. Retired family physician\nTom Dean, from Wessington Springs, shared his concerns about what the\ncuts to Medicaid will mean for nursing homes and the health of moms and\nbabies.\n  He told the South Dakota Searchlight:\n\n       I'm really frightened about the impact it will have on\n     nursing homes. . . . Medicaid is a major payer for prenatal,\n     delivery, and postpartum care. . . . And that's a major\n     concern, especially in rural areas.\n\n  I know that my Republican colleagues are hearing these stories from\ntheir constituents, and we need to make sure that they can't ignore\nthem. These stories and the people behind them make all the difference\nin this fight to protect Medicaid. I am proud to give them a voice in\nthe Senate, as my Republican colleagues continue their crusade to rip\naway healthcare from 17 million Americans.\n  The American people don't like this bill, and that includes Americans\nwho live in red, blue, and purple States. We are going to keep ringing\nthe alarm bells on behalf of Americans in every corner, in every part\nof this Nation and protect the critical coverage working families need\nand deserve. Lives depend upon it.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.\n  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise today, along with my colleagues\nfrom Illinois and from Wisconsin. And you just heard from Senator\nBaldwin about the effects of this budget bill on the Midwest.\n  I guess I would start by asking the same questions as our colleague\nSenator Tillis, who just announced he wasn't going to seek reelection,\nafter the President threatened him with a primary, and after he took a\nvote and had the audacity to ask the questions that had to be asked\nabout this bill.\n  And you heard him today. He talked about how he had talked to the\nhospital association in his State, how he had talked to the Governor's\nOffice, how he had gotten the actual data on the effects of Medicaid in\nNorth Carolina. And then he asked the question: How hard is it to see\nthe impact of these proposals? And he asked: What is wrong with putting\na little daylight on what is going on here?\n  So that is what I am going to do in my few minutes here--put a little\nMidwestern daylight on what is going on here--and that is that, under\nthis bill, 17 million people would be kicked off their healthcare\nbecause of the Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act changes.\n  That was 16 million people until we got the updated numbers from the\nCongressional Budget Office. That is a nonpartisan group.\n  It also drives $4 trillion in debt. It used to be $3.4. Now it is up\nto $4 trillion. And what will that mean? That will mean big time in the\nMidwest, where I have so many of my own constituents wanting to buy\ntheir first house. It is going to mean major increased interest rates.\nIt is going to mean difficulty in buying all kinds of things for which\nyou would take out loans or for small businesses--all for giving a\nbunch of tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, $400,000 for\nmultimillionaires.\n  Our colleagues are going to raise costs and take healthcare and food\naway from millions of Americans.\n  So my colleagues have talked about Senator Baldwin and Senator\nDurbin, and talked about the effects that this bill has in the Midwest\nwhen it comes to healthcare and the closing of the rural hospitals. The\nMidwest has a huge number of these rural hospitals. It is about half of\nthem that would be forecast to close.\n  She talked about the Medicaid cuts. So I am going to talk about a\ndifferent piece of this, and this is the impact of cuts to food\nassistance.\n  There is no avoiding the facts. Here they are. About a month ago, the\nHouse passed a budget bill, as you know, that cut nutrition assistance\nby nearly $300 million. It put the country on track to eliminate SNAP\nfor 4 million Americans and reduce benefits for millions more. I was\nhopeful that we would go in another direction. And while there were\nsome changes made by the Republicans on the Agriculture Committee that\nI appreciated, it still amounts to over $185 billion in cuts from the\nSNAP program.\n  And let me remind you that the vast majority of people on SNAP are\nolder Americans, people with kids, veterans, and people with\ndisabilities.\n  We were just out on the Senate steps with a number of those people\nand the groups that they represent and faith leaders, talking about\nthis very subject.\n  Why them? Why give tax cuts to the wealthy on their backs?\n  We know that the impact of the ``Big Beautiful Betrayal of a Bill''\nwill be even more stark in the Midwest.\n  In the Midwest, here are some examples. Americans use SNAP benefits--\nnearly 155,000 people in Nebraska. And let's face it. That is not the\nbiggest population State, but 155,000 Nebraskans use SNAP; about\n190,000 people in Kansas; 260,000 people in Iowa; 660,000 people in\nMissouri; 700,000 people in the State of Wisconsin. Senator Baldwin\njust talked about the impact of healthcare there--but 700,000 people of\nmy neighbors in Wisconsin. Nearly 1.5 million people in Michigan use\nSNAP. And in Minnesota, it is 450,000.\n  So, yes, those people will be affected greatly by this faux shift to\nthe States. And, unfortunately, while we tried to fight part of this--\nthe State shift--we were not able to get that changed, in the last few\ndays.\n  This means certain States. I am just going to give you some examples.\nHundreds of millions of dollars are supposed to shift over to States in\nthe Midwest. When 41 of the 50 States in our country have balanced\nbudget amendments, what are they supposed to do? Cut infrastructure?\nCut law enforcement?\n  The majority of these cuts--and this is why this is such funny math--\nare shifts to the States, and it is why Governors, especially in the\nMidwest, like Governor Kelly in the State of Kansas, who has been\nspeaking out big time on this, why they are so concerned about the\nshift.\n  In addition--and this is not something everyone thinks about when\nthey think about SNAP, but we think about it big time in the Midwest--\nit is farmers and grocers. Over a third of America's farmland is\nlocated in the Midwest. That includes more than 722,000 farm\noperations, which is more than one-third of farms nationwide.\n  So why would farmers care about this? Well, they will lose revenue\nbecause Americans won't be able to buy their products. And that loss--\nthat is the SNAP program. Right? It buys food from America, just like\ninternational organizations were buying food from America with USAID.\nThat has been cut. Or the Trump tariffs which dry up\n\n[[Page S3656]]\n\nmarkets in places all over the world because of retaliatory tariffs,\nthat is hitting our farmers. Input costs, inflation, you name it. And\nnow, this on top of it.\n  In addition, this is going to be a big hit to our grocers. In many\nrural counties throughout the Midwest, their independent grocery store\nis the lone grocer in the county. So in 76 counties nationwide, they\ndon't even have a single grocery store, and half of those are in the\nMidwest.\n  I recently visited an employee-owned grocery store in rural Long\nPrairie, MN--population: 3,600. Businesses like that operate on tight\nmargins, and they usually serve not just that county, as you can see\nfrom the numbers I just provided you, but the surrounding counties, or\nthey may be the only ones in town. To businesses like that, the cuts to\nSNAP are pretty significant because that is sometimes the margin on\nwhich they are able to stay alive as a business.\n  This would make it harder and harder and more expensive for those\ngrocery stores. It could put them out of business. That is for sure.\nThat is what the grocery stores believe. But it also hurts the\nindividual people in their areas, because in the rural areas, you have\nan overwhelming number of seniors, you have got an overwhelming number\nof veterans, and you have just an overwhelming number of the people who\nare using these kinds of grocery store.\n  So SNAP supports hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of\ndollars in wages of these independent grocers, farm and other\nindustries, including more than 1,700 jobs in Nebraska, more than 1,900\njobs in Kansas, more than 2,600 jobs in Iowa, more than 7,000 jobs in\nMissouri, more than 6,000 jobs in Wisconsin, more than 13,000 jobs in\nMichigan, more than 4,000 jobs in Minnesota.\n  We know that from farmers and truckers to local grocers, for every\ndollar invested in SNAP about $1.50 of economic activity is generated\nnationwide.\n  For many Midwesterners, this bill would make the difference between\nhaving a grocery store in their region or not.\n  I mentioned the shift of billions of dollars of costs to States that\nwill blow holes through the State budget. They won't be able to support\nit, and, sadly, our Republican colleagues know this, because 44\nStates--44 States--have this balanced budget rule, and they are going\nto be forced to choose between paying the cost for food and paying for\ncritical services. That is why 23 Democratic Governors, all of them,\njust laid out in a letter to Congress that these cuts don't just\nincrease State costs; they make it nearly impossible for States to\neffectively plan for these long-term budget impacts.\n  Those are Governors from Kentucky, with Governor Beshear, to Arizona,\nwith Governor Hobbs. Across the entire Nation, we heard from these\nGovernors, not to mention the Governors such as Governor Pritzker in\nIllinois and Governor Walz in Minnesota and Governor Kelly in Kansas\nand Governor Whitmer in Michigan.\n  Based on 2023 figures--ready for this?--the House and Senate version\nof this bill would shift--and it varies because the bills are\ndifferent. But this is how much money we are talking about: between $16\nmillion and $49 million onto the State of Nebraska, between $61 million\nand $101 million in costs onto Kansas. Imagine the budget. Suddenly,\noh, you have got to do an extra $60 million. Too bad, you have a\nbalanced budget amendment.\n  Up to $26 million in costs onto Iowa, between $225 million and $376\nmillion onto the State budget in Missouri, up to $68 million in costs\nonto Wisconsin, where Governor Evers was also a signatory of this\nletter.\n  Between 456 and 761 million in costs onto Michigan and between 43\nmillion and 128 million in costs onto Minnesota.\n  And those numbers are on top--on top--of an increased administrative\ncost shift to States. It used to be 50-50; now it is 75-25.\n  Hello, States. You with strapped budgets, we are now making you pay\n75 percent of administrative costs, which would make it even harder for\nStates to invest in the staff training and upgraded financial systems\nthat would make the program more sound and reduce payment errors.\n  It is not just the State budgets that will be affected. In many\nStates, including Minnesota and Wisconsin, it is counties rather than\nthe States that run the SNAP program.\n  So I had a visit from some of the rural counties. And they--talk\nabout living off a margin, a thin margin, trying to help their\ntaxpayers trying to get this done, in States like Minnesota and\nWisconsin that believe in strong local government--big surprise--our\nStates and a number of other States with bigger rural areas have\ndecided: We would rather have the counties do this.\n  So now these cost shifts will go directly to these county\ngovernments. And you would not believe the numbers of what they would\nhave to do to increase their taxes in these rural counties. They said:\nWe can't do that.\n  So if that happens, they will have to raise their local property\ntaxes or cut county services.\n  In the past, we have said that if you are raising kids or taking care\nof an older relative, we are going to help you feed your family, even\nif you don't have a job. This reconciliation bill would change that. It\nwould withhold food assistance from families raising kids over the age\nof 13 and adults 55 and up if they don't meet the new requirements.\n  The Senate bill also eliminates an existing exemption for veterans,\nhomeless people, and former foster youth, an exemption my Republican\ncolleagues supported in the Fiscal Responsibility Act just 2 years ago.\n  So this is a shift among the party. The Republican party actually\nsaid this was a good idea to have exemptions for vets and homeless\npeople and former foster youth. Not anymore. These are people who are\nalready struggling, veterans who have sacrificed to serve our country.\n  I believe that when our veterans signed up to serve, there was no\nwaiting line. And when they are in this country and they need help with\nfood or they need a job or they need a home, there shouldn't be a\nwaiting line in the United States of America.\n  So everyone that I have talked to about this, just as Senator Tillis\nwas saying about Medicaid in North Carolina--and I spent time on this.\nI visit all 87 counties in my State every year. I am up to 49. So I\nhave been able to talk to people who aren't political, who are\nRepublicans, talk to people I just run into in rural grocery stores in\nthe vegetable line. I mean, I have talked to a ton of people. And what\nthey have said to the store managers, to the food shelf volunteers, to\nthose that take SNAP: This isn't a good idea.\n  That is what the public opinion polls say: FOX News poll, 60 percent\nof people say this bill is a bad idea; 2 to 1 say it is going to help\nwealthy people and not them.\n  Well, they are right about that. This is a betrayal of the middle\nclass, and it only takes four of our colleagues--and four in the House,\nby the way--to stand up and say: We need to rewrite this thing. Let's\nstart over.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.\n  Ms. ROSEN. Mr. President, I rise today to express my strong\nopposition to the devastating and dangerous tax-and-spending bill that\nSenate Republicans are trying to jam through this weekend on a party\nline vote, a bill that will gut essential programs like Medicaid and\nSNAP just to pay for even more tax breaks for billionaires.\n  So let's be clear about what is happening here. This ``Big Beautiful\nBetrayal,'' it isn't about fiscal discipline. It is fiscally reckless.\nIt isn't about responsibility or doing what is best for average\nAmericans. It is about misguided priorities. It is about giving more to\nthe ultrawealthy on the backs of hard-working families.\n  This bill will take away healthcare and food assistance from people\nand families who need it most just so DC Republicans can pay more for\ntax cuts for those who need them the least. DC Republicans want to have\nmore tax cuts for those who need them the least.\n  Once again, Republicans in Congress are putting the interests of the\nultrawealthy above the needs of hard-working families, children with\ndisabilities, seniors, and Americans who rely on Medicaid each and\nevery day.\n  Earlier this year, I held a roundtable in Las Vegas with Nevada\nfamilies who\n\n[[Page S3657]]\n\nrely on Medicaid. For them, Medicaid is not just a talking point. They\nare not simply pay-fors in a budget bill. Medicaid is a lifeline. It\nliterally keeps their children alive.\n  I talked to people like Jessica, whose daughter Kay--well, she is 4\nyears old. She was born with Down syndrome and was recently diagnosed\nwith type 1 diabetes. Jessica relies on Medicaid to help cover the cost\nof weekly physical, speech, and occupational therapies for Kay, all of\nwhich are responsible--well, they are helping her learn to walk, to use\nutensils, to write her own name.\n  Imagine when her mother sees her write her own name. It is a proud\nmoment.\n  Kay also has a cardiologist, an endocrinologist to manage conditions\nrelated to her Down syndrome. Medicaid covers these doctors. It covers\nher insulin. It covers the insulin pump that allows Jessica to manage\nher daughter's diabetes around the clock, all because Kay can't\ncommunicate when her blood sugar is dangerously low or high.\n  And Jessica said something at that roundtable I will never forget.\nShe told me:\n\n       I can't imagine losing Medicaid . . . obviously I'm going\n     to have [to try] to give up something, because I'm not gonna\n     let her go without insulin and the lifesaving care she needs.\n     And I can't [even] imagine having to think about what I'd\n     have to cut or what I'd have to do--\n\n  What I would have to do--\n\n       in order to pay for the lifesaving care that she needs and\n     deserves.\n\n  Kristy, another Nevada mom, was also at that roundtable. Her daughter\nSadie is 13. She has been bravely battling an aggressive form of\nleukemia for the past 2 years. Since her diagnosis, Sadie has spent\nmore than a year and a half in and out of the hospital undergoing\ntreatment for her cancer--all covered, thankfully, by Medicaid.\n\n  Sadie's father--well, he passed away during the COVID pandemic,\nsadly, and Kristy became Sadie's sole caregiver and sole provider.\n  Medicaid is critical, and, simply put, it is lifesaving. So why are\nRepublicans looking to cut it? So billionaires can get another tax\nbreak? So that Republican lawmakers can hand out trillions of dollars\nin tax giveaways to the wealthiest 1 percent while thousands of people\nlose access to lifesaving care?\n  The cuts proposed to Medicaid--well, they are going to affect\nveterans and Nevadans with cancer who can't work and who will be kicked\noff their health insurance, the insurance that they need to stay alive.\nIt will kick the family caregiver, who takes care of both her aging\nparents, maybe off her own coverage.\n  The majority of adults on Medicaid already work, and Republicans are\ncounting on savings from these hard-working Americans losing coverage,\ntoo, because of paperwork? Paperwork is just going to be so\nbureaucratic, so full of redtape. The goal is to make it so hard, so\ndamn burdensome, that nobody can do it. No one can go to work, take\ncare of their sick loved one, be sick themselves. They are hoping they\ndrop off, even if they technically qualify. This is where they find\ntheir savings.\n  Aren't we supposed to cut redtape and improve the lives of our\nconstituents? And so this is just cruel. It is a lose-lose situation.\nPeople can't work because they have a life-threatening illness, or they\nare working and they miss the complicated new paperwork which people\nare hoping that they can't do so they will drop off; and that is where\nthey will find the savings. They will lose their health insurance, and\nmaybe they will drop off, and they will lose their life too.\n  All for a tax break for the wealthiest, for the billionaire Cabinet\nof our current President. This is just shameful.\n  This bill would also slash SNAP, as my colleagues before me have told\nyou some of the statistics. SNAP, the nutrition program that helps\nnearly one in six Nevadans put food on the table. Most of these\nrecipients are children. When they cut this program, you tell me what\nour families are supposed to do. You tell me what families are supposed\nto do when they cut food assistance. How are they going to put food on\nthe table? What will they say to their hungry children? Sorry, kids.\nYou have to go hungry so billionaires can get a tax break.\n  This just can't be right. This just can't be right.\n  And it doesn't stop there. This bill threatens thousands of good-\npaying union jobs in Nevada, across our country, by letting critical\ntax credits for solar, for wind projects expire before those projects\ncan even get off the ground.\n  You know, in Nevada, we have more solar jobs per capita, more than\nany other State in the Nation, and we have enough solar energy to power\nnearly 1.3 million homes. It is a growing, terrific industry in Nevada.\nWe need all the energy we can get at an affordable price.\n  And this bill--this bill is going to decimate this important and\ngrowing industry, not just in my State but in States across this\ncountry.\n  And on top of that, Republicans have added an additional new tax on\nwind and solar projects. It just won't kill the industry. Like I said,\nit is going to raise prices on hard-working families, families who are\nalready paying too much for their energy.\n  I thought we were supposed to be lowering prices, creating\nopportunities, expanding and investing in our infrastructure and in our\nNation. But this bill is going to add more taxes, slash products, and\nraise energy prices for hard-working families.\n  And all of this is causing companies across the country to stall or\ncancel projects over the uncertainty of losing access to the tax\ncredits. This means fewer jobs, less investment, and just more families\nwondering, actually, how they are going to make ends meet.\n  And we are talking about an industry that supports nearly 280,000\nAmerican workers: electricians, technicians, construction crews. I\ncould go on and on about all the jobs that are in our solar and wind\nindustry. And we are pulling the rug right out from under them--right\nout from under them--and killing thousands, hundreds of thousands, of\nclean energy jobs.\n  Again, I want to remind you that all of this is for one purpose and\none purpose alone: to give tax breaks to billionaires.\n  So anyone who supports this bill is not pro-worker. They are not\nlooking out for underdogs, for hard-working families. They are just\nfocused on making the rich, well, richer. And I am not going to stand\nby and let Nevada families lose access to their healthcare, to their\nfood assistance, to their jobs--all so billionaires can pad their\npockets.\n  And I want to remind people what Democrats--what we did--when we used\nthe reconciliation process. We expanded health insurance subsidies; and\nfor the first time, we gave Medicare the authority to negotiate for\nlower drug prices for our seniors. We invested in our clean energy\nfuture. We cut costs for families, instead of cutting lifelines.\n  And this DC Republican bill is extreme; it is cruel; and it is not\nwhat the American people want.\n  People want lower costs. People want economic security. Parents want\ntheir kids to have care when they are sick and a fair shot to thrive.\n  They don't want their future sold off to billionaires.\n  So I say to my Republican colleagues: Please don't turn your backs.\nPlease don't turn your backs on families who need you, who need this,\nthe most.\n  I want you to come look at my Nevada moms and my Nevada dads in the\neyes and tell them they don't matter, that their children don't matter,\nthat the lives of their kids don't matter because they won't get the\ncare they need. And I shudder to think of the consequences.\n  Please, come to Nevada. Sit with these parents and tell them that\nthey don't matter. I don't know how you could face them and gut\nMedicaid to give billionaires a tax cut, but that is what you are about\nto do. The American people deserve better. And I will fight every\nsingle step of the way to make sure that they get it.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.\n  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I am going to be brief. I promise, Senator\nVan Hollen, I am going to be about 5 minutes. This is an easy one.\n  No. 1, I probably should have said this earlier. My colleagues on the\nother side of the aisle, I completely disagree with the narrative of\nthe billionaire tax. Folks, this is actually reducing or making sure we\ndon't raise taxes on people like me who grew up in trailer\n\n[[Page S3658]]\n\nparks, didn't get my degree until I was 37, struggled to make ends\nmeet. Those people benefit from that. I read the bill. I think most of\nyou know I am detail-oriented. It is not what it seems.\n  I also should have thanked Senator Crapo. He is a good friend, a\ngreat leader. I should have thanked him for the hard work he is doing.\nI got a little focused on the Medicaid failed baseline that is in the\nbill, but I should have started with that. Thanks to Mike Crapo and\nSenator Thune, whom I admire as our leader.\n  I am here to talk about the production tax credit and the investment\ntax credit. It is another classic example where think tanks and people\nwho haven't worked a day in business are setting policy in the White\nHouse without a clue about what they are potentially doing to our grid.\n  A lot of people probably--I had Alex Weinstein, who is a self-\ndescribed philosopher and expert in this area in my office--talking\nwith three people, practitioners, that actually work in it. One is\nsomeone who specializes in power purchase agreements for large\nbusinesses.\n  Walmart is one of the most sophisticated buyers of electrons in the\nworld. They map out their power requirements years in advance. They\nwant to make sure their food doesn't spoil and they have power running.\nThey have already made several power purchase agreements with projects\nunderway, folks. This bill is basically gutting it.\n  Instead, everybody is high-fiving.\n  What is amazing to me is the mark that we laid down the other day\nalmost achieved the same level of cuts as the House bill, within $30\nbillion--within $30 billion. And instead of thinking that was progress,\nsomebody got cute and decided to take away in construction and put it\nin service.\n  Let me tell you why this is disingenuous. I was a partner at\nPricewaterhouse and worked in utilities practice--large utilities, like\nTECO, Duke, Florida Progress, AEP. I know this industry. I understand\nbaseload; I understand peaking; and I understand this technology, which\nis increasingly becoming viable because of storage as a part of\naugmenting baseload.\n  Now, we have the Walmarts and all these data centers, and everything\nwe wanted to bring back onshore putting in these power purchase\nagreements teed to these projects, like solar, in particular, like\nwind, and other innovative--renewable natural gas, methane, hydrogen. I\ncan go on.\n  But somebody, a self-described philosopher in a think tank that I\nadmire a lot, but I realized, if you are a philosopher and in a think\ntank, you, by definition, have never worked in an operational role. You\ncan't possibly understand what happens to this pipeline of power\npurchase agreements and the future of our grids.\n  Here is what is going to happen. Wipe it clean. Put an excise tax in.\nEffectively throw the football into the end zone, spin it, walk away,\ndo the party dance. And what you have done is create a blip in power\nservice because there isn't going to be a gas-fired generator anytime\nsoon.\n  Folks, the generator is necessary to create power with gas--best\ncase, 5 years from now. That is best case, 5 years from now. So you\ncan't get that online and, at the same time, this whole pipeline is\ngoing down.\n  So I want that philosopher to tell me that he understands how to plan\nout power over time and to let me know that when all these projects\nfail--some will make it, some will get subsidized, some will go\nbankrupt--so it won't be Armageddon, but it is going to be a problem.\nSo they better get it right.\n  It is another example, folks, when you rush a bill and don't think\nthrough the implementation, you don't get it right. I hope my\ncolleagues recognize it is half-baked. It is another reason why we\nshould go back to the House mark, get Medicaid right, so I can come\nonto the floor and tell my colleagues on the other side of the aisle\nwhy they are wrong on all the attributes of the House mark; why they\nare wrong on some of their characterizations of the tax bill; and why\nthey will be wrong on an energy policy that makes sense.\n  But I have to vote against the bill for my own party--that I have\nnever parted from before--because we are rushing to an arbitrary\ndeadline with people who have never worked a day in this industry.\nMaybe they philosophized and have written a few white papers on it but\nhaven't gotten their hands dirty. This is another segment of the bill\nthat needs to change.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.\n  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, Donald Trump likes to call the bill\nthat Republicans are trying to rush through this Senate the Big\nBeautiful Bill.\n  Well, it is big all right. It took the Senate clerks nearly 16 hours\nto speed read through it. But it is only beautiful if you are a\nbillionaire or otherwise very wealthy in America. For everybody else,\nthis is a big ugly betrayal of a bill--betrayal because tax cuts for\nbillionaires are coming at the expense of virtually everyone else.\n  I agree with many of the things my colleague from North Carolina,\nSenator Tillis, just said. But I have also read the bill. If you look\nat the bill, the tax benefits overwhelmingly go to the very highest\nincome earners in the United States of America. Fifty percent of those\ntax benefits go to just the top 5 percent.\n  So this is a choice that is being made by Donald Trump and\nRepublicans in Congress to give to billionaires additional tax handouts\nat the expense of the rest of the country. They are choosing to engage\nin a huge transfer of wealth from people who are working paycheck-to-\npaycheck to those who are living off their huge inheritances or\ngigantic stock portfolios.\n  Americans are going to have to pay for the tax cuts for billionaires\nin many, many ways. Millions will lose access to healthcare. Others\nwill no longer be able to put food on the table. Others will not be\nable to afford to pay heating bills on freezing nights. Virtually,\nevery American will see their energy bills increase and their health\ninsurance premiums go up. And every American is likely to face higher\nborrowing costs for their home mortgages or car loans--again, all so\nbillionaires and very wealthy people can get big tax cuts.\n  Let's look at some of the real hits to American families, starting\nwith the attack on healthcare. Donald Trump said he would ``love and\ncherish'' Medicaid. He said the people won't be affected. That is a\nlie. What he loves are tax cuts for his billionaire buddies.\n  Let's just take a look. This bill pays for over a trillion dollars in\ntax giveaways to people who make over $500,000 every year by cutting a\ntrillion dollars of health benefits from those who rely on Medicaid and\nthe Affordable Care Act.\n  Think about that tradeoff. Indeed, because of the cuts to Medicaid\nand the Affordable Care Act in this bill, 12 million Americans will\nlose access to healthcare coverage. On top of that, another 5 million\nAmericans will lose access to health coverage because Republicans\nrefuse to extend the tax credits that millions of middle-class\nAmericans use to purchase coverage through the Affordable Care Act.\n  So while extending tax cuts for the very wealthy, they are not\nextending the healthcare tax credits that middle-class Americans use to\nhelp afford health insurance. The result of these cuts and the refusal\nto extend those tax credits means that nearly 17 million of our fellow\nAmericans will lose access to healthcare coverage.\n  In my State of Maryland, that is 229,000 of my fellow Marylanders.\nAnd who are these Americans? Who are these Marylanders? They are babies\nand children. Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program\ncover 38 million children in America, 700,000 children in Maryland.\n  Medicaid covers 40 percent of births in America, over 40 percent of\nbirths in Maryland. More mothers will die as a result of pregnancy-\nrelated deaths if this bill passes.\n  I think we will also know Medicaid is especially important to helping\npeople through the vulnerable stages of their lives. It covers one in\nfour people with mental health or substance use disorders. It is the\nprimary payer for long-term health services, covering 60 percent of\nnursing home residents. If even a fraction of those residents lose\ncoverage, entire nursing homes can close, and those families will have\nto figure out how to care for their expelled loved ones. An analysis\nthat was done estimates that as many as 500 nursing homes could close\nbecause they are on the cusp.\n\n[[Page S3659]]\n\n  Rural hospitals are also especially vulnerable. It is estimated that\nup to 300 rural hospitals could close if this bill passes.\n  Americans with disabilities, Medicaid is absolutely essential to\ntheir lives. It helps them receive home and community-based care so\nthey don't have to choose between getting the care they need and being\nseparated from their loved ones. A study by Yale University and the\nUniversity of Pennsylvania predicts that this bill before the Senate\nwill result in over 51,000 preventable deaths each year--preventable\ndeaths. So, officially, the death certificates will say that somebody\npassed away because they had late-stage cancer. It was detected too\nlate because they couldn't get the preventive care they needed or an\naccident occurred at a nursing home because there were not enough\nnurses on site. But those reasons, those conditions will have been set\nbecause this bill passed.\n  And, again, making millions of Americans more vulnerable to pay for\ntax cuts for the ultrawealthy is unconscionable, but it is the choice\nbeing made in this bill.\n  Now, 17 million people who will lose their health coverage is a very\nbig number to wrap our heads around. So I want to read just a few\nstories of Marylanders who rely on Medicaid and who have been watching\nclosely this whole effort that has unfolded on the floor of the U.S.\nSenate.\n  I had a call from one of my constituents who has a son. Her son takes\nchemotherapy, and he relies on those chemotherapy treatments to sustain\nhis life. She wrote to me that if he loses access to his health\ninsurance, that it would be ``a death sentence.''\n  Another Marylander wrote to me about his autistic son who is still\nable to work but who depends entirely on Medicaid for support. He also\nsaid: Please don't let the Senate pass this bill.\n  And the stories go on and on and on.\n  Just the other day, Senator Alsobrooks and I had a telephone\ntownhall. We had 12,000 Marylanders joining us. After that call, we\nreceived many more stories about people who would really be in\ndesperate shape if they lost access to their health coverage.\n  Now, on top of the 17 million Americans who stand to lose their\nhealth coverage, all other Americans are likely to see higher premiums\nbecause what happens when you have uncompensated care is more people go\nto the emergency rooms at the hospitals. Those hospitals can't just eat\nall of those additional costs, and at the end of the day, those\nadditional costs cycle through the system in the form of higher\npremiums for others. We are already seeing that impact in Maryland as\ninsurance companies today look at the possible liability they will have\ngoing forward as a result of this legislation.\n  Beyond the 17 million who will lose access to affordable healthcare,\nyou also have millions of Americans who are going to be hit as a result\nof the cuts to the food and nutrition programs, to the SNAP program. We\nare going to see a whopping 20 percent cut--$200 billion--to the SNAP\nprogram. Over 40 million Americans get some kind of help from that food\nand nutrition program, and over 3 million of them will lose their SNAP\nbenefits entirely. Others will see rising costs. In Maryland, it is\ngoing to impact 684,000 people, most of whom are families with kids.\n  In addition to 17 million Americans losing access to healthcare\ncoverage and in addition to the 40 million Americans who will be\nimpacted by cuts to food and nutrition programs, I want to just focus\nfor a moment on another hit to American households. Some of us have\ndiscussed this on this Senate floor before, but it hasn't gotten as\nmuch attention, and it relates to the energy bills Americans pay,\nincluding their electric bills, because this bill will drive them up.\nIt directly attacks the production of more clean energy, and less\nenergy with rising demand means higher costs for households.\n  I don't know if folks remember about a year ago when Donald Trump had\na state dinner at Mar-a-Lago, where he begged 20 fossil fuel CEOs for\ncampaign cash. It was reported on at the time. Well, he succeeded in\nraking in hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign donations. Now we\nsee the payoff in this bill to those powerful special interests, and\nthat payoff comes in two forms.\n  First, this bill gives big oil companies a new $1 billion tax break.\nAs a result, some of the fossil fuel companies will pay zero dollars--\nzero dollars--in Federal income tax.\n  Second, this bill--and the Senator from North Carolina referred to\nsome of the provisions that will have this impact. This bill sabotages\nthe production of more clean energy. It does so by slashing production\nand investment tax credits for clean energy and scuttling new clean\nenergy projects. It continues the Trump administration's baseless\nattacks on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which is a program we\nestablished that will be a win, win, win for our environment, for our\neconomy, and for family pocketbooks.\n  By cutting these clean energy incentives and initiatives, this bill\nwill reduce the overall amount of energy added to our electric grids by\nat least 50 percent by 2035. Think about that. So this bill is going to\nresult in a dramatic reduction in the amount of new energy produced\nthat goes on the electric grids. With less energy generated and higher\ndemand, household energy costs and bills are going to go up. In fact,\nit is predicted that household electricity bills will go up by $110 on\naverage as soon as next year and by up to $400 per year for families\nover the next decade.\n  This will serve the interests of big oil and gas producers and\nutility companies that benefit from the higher prices that consumers\nwill have to shell out. This will also do something else. It will\nsurrender entirely the clean energy playing field to China, which\nalready has a big head start on us in the area of clean energy\ndeployment. So this is not America first; this is very much America in\nretreat.\n  I don't often agree with Elon Musk, but he is absolutely right when\nhe said just a few days ago that the latest Senate draft bill will\n``destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm\nto our country--utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to\nindustries of the past while severely damaging industries of the\nfuture.'' That is the Republican Senate bill--looking in the rearview\nmirror rather than ahead.\n  Again, what is the driving purpose? What is the North Star of this\nbill? It is to give very, very wealthy people tax cuts at the expense\nof everybody else. Everything else is sacrificed.\n  As a result of those tax cuts, the top one-tenth of 1 percent of the\nhighest income earners will get an average tax break of $255,000. The\ntop one-tenth of 1 percent will get a tax break of $255,000.\nIndividuals making over $1 million a year will get a $35,000 tax break.\nAs I said earlier, almost 50 percent of all of the tax benefits, all of\nthe tax moneys, will go to the top 5 percent of income earners. To make\nthat happen, as I have said, everything else gets sacrificed--cuts to\nMedicaid, cuts to food and nutrition programs, cuts to clean energy\nthat result in higher costs for consumers.\n\n  But even after making all of those cuts and imposing all of that pain\non so many Americans, this Republican bill is still going to add over\n$4 trillion to our deficit over the next 10 years and an estimated $35\ntrillion over the next 30 years.\n  So despite paying for part of those additional costs through cuts to\nMedicaid and food and nutrition programs, they are going to blow the\nroof off of our deficits and debt. Make no mistake, when you do that,\nyou cost every American because it will generate upward pressure on\ninterest rates, which raises costs for Americans who want to take out a\nmortgage to buy a home or want to get a car loan or for small\nbusinesses. In fact, the Yale Budget Lab projects that the House-passed\nbill would add over $1,000 a year to the cost of a mortgage and over\n$800 a year to the cost of a small business loan. That is the House-\npassed bill. The Senate bill will be worse because the Senate bill adds\nabout $1 trillion more to the deficit over 10 years than the House\nbill.\n  I do want to just focus on a final aspect of the deficit and debt\nimpact of the Senate Republican bill, and that is this very deliberate\neffort to use fraudulent accounting to hide the deficit impact of this\nbill from the American people.\n\n[[Page S3660]]\n\n  Let me give you an example. Let's say you sign a contract to rent an\napartment for $2,000 a month. You know that is going to cost you\n$24,000 for the full year. Now, at the end of the year, if you want to\nkeep renting that apartment at that rate, any normal person would say:\nWell, that is going to cost them another $24,000. Senate Republicans\nwant to tell the American people that the cost of continuing to rent\nthat apartment for another year is zero--zero--because the amount of\nrent they have to pay in year 2 is the same rent they had to pay in\nyear 1.\n  In other words, Republicans want to say that because they have been\ngiving billionaires and wealthy people tax cuts for 10 years, it will\ncost nothing to extend them for another 10 years. That is the so-called\ncurrent policy baseline.\n  In other words, if you just keep in place for another 10 years those\nsame tax breaks for billionaires and others, we don't have to count the\nlost revenue, and we don't have to count the amount the deficit will\nincrease as a result of that lost revenue. A third grader can see that\nthis is bogus math.\n  Let me read a colleague's statement, made this year by somebody. Here\nis what he said:\n\n       Anybody that says current policy baseline [is the way to\n     go] is engaging in intellectual and economic fraud.\n\n  I wanted to make sure I got that quote correct because it was made by\na Republican Congressman from Arizona, Congressman Schweikert.\n  Here is another quote:\n\n       This is fairy dust, and they're full of crap. And I'm gonna\n     call them out on it.\n\n  Who said that? Congressman Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas.\n  I think it is worth quoting those Republican Members of Congress\nbecause while I dramatically disagree with what they did in their House\nbill, at least they used honest accounting. At least they didn't try to\nperpetrate this budget fraud that we are witnessing here in the U.S.\nSenate--a budget fraud that would, I dare say, make the Enron scammers\nblush.\n  If you go through the numbers, it is dramatic. For example, an honest\nscoring of the bill shows that extending the individual tax rates from\nTrump 2017 will cost $2.2 trillion. That is what the House of\nRepresentatives said--$2.2 trillion. When you use the fraudulent budget\nmath that Senate Republicans want to use, all of a sudden, that is $83\nbillion.\n  If you look at the cost of extending key deductions for businesses,\nthe House used accurate accounting; it comes to $820 billion over 10\nyears. Under the Senate plan, it is $6 billion.\n  So I am not going to spend a ton of time going over this chart, but I\ndo want to put it up here. This is from the Committee for a Responsible\nFederal Budget. The blue shade in each of these years shows what Senate\nRepublicans say their bill will cost in each of those years. There is\nthe so-called current policy baseline. This is what those House\nRepublican Members called fraudulent accounting, and it is. If you add\nup all of those blue deficits over those 10 years, they claim it is\n$441 billion additional debt over 10 years. But if you use the honest\naccounting that we have always used in the U.S. Senate for the purposes\nof budget reconciliation, you get the full bar, including the orange\nnumbers, which is $4.2 trillion in debt over those 10 years.\n  I do want to point out to my colleagues something interesting because\nthey have these dashed orange lines. What this is representing is that\nsome of these costs from lost revenue in some of these out-years go\ndown. That is because under this House Republican plan, the tax cuts\nfor people with the no tax on tips--they go away. They vanish. They\nvanish right here in 2029. But the tax cuts for very wealthy people,\nfor billionaires and others--they go on for the 10 years. In fact, they\ngo on forever.\n  The last point I want to make is, by letting them go on forever--the\ntax cuts for very wealthy people--Senate Republicans are violating the\nentire structure of the budget reconciliation process because when it\nwas first devised, the entire purpose of it was to reduce our deficits\nand reduce the debt. Republican Senators are perverting the entire\npurpose of that special procedure that allows things to pass in the\nU.S. Senate with 51 votes and not having to secure the 60-vote\nthreshold to overcome a filibuster. They are violating that entire\nstructure. Again, why? Because they are hell-bent on making sure those\ntax cuts for very wealthy people go on forever--again, at the expense\nof everybody else.\n  I will just close by pointing out that it wasn't that long ago that\njust down the hall here, in the Senate Rotunda, Donald Trump took the\noath of office. He looked at the cameras, and he said he wanted a new\ngolden age for America.\n  But this is not a golden age for America. It is a gilded age for the\nwealthiest people in America, and those are the people he was really\nspeaking to because they are the ones who were sitting behind him on\nInauguration Day: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Zuckerberg, the tech titans,\nthe billionaire Cabinet--more billionaires than any Cabinet, by far, in\nAmerican history.\n  That is who this bill serves. It serves very wealthy and powerful\npeople, and it does so at the expense of everybody else in America, in\none form or another.\n  And I hope--I hope--our Senate, on a bipartisan basis, will give it a\nbig thumbs down.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Husted). The Senator from Vermont.\n  Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, never in my time in Congress have I seen a\nbill that does so much damage in so many ways to so many people in so\nmany States and that will affect so many generations.\n  The clerks have read the bill. It is now time for us to kill the\nbill. The point of reading the bill was to reveal that this bill has\none goal, and that is to extend tax cuts to very wealthy Americans--\nwhere the top 1 percent will get 60 percent of the benefit--and to make\neveryday Americans pay the price to fund those tax cuts.\n  It is no wonder, right now, that two in three Americans oppose this\nbill. The question is, Will the U.S. Senate oppose this bill?\n  Here are just a few ways that the President's so-called One Big\nBeautiful Bill will hurt Vermont. In Vermont, 11,500 people will lose\ntheir healthcare coverage under ObamaCare, or the Affordable Care Act.\nTwenty-one thousand Vermonters will lose Medicaid coverage and food\nnutrition programs that are so essential to the well-being of your\ncitizens and mine. In Vermont, on the SNAP Program, 11 percent of our\nhouseholds use it, 65,000 people. A little over a third of households\nrely on the SNAP program, and they have kids. Nearly 3,000 veterans in\nVermont rely on the SNAP program.\n  By the way, we are talking about 6 bucks a day. Billions are going to\nbe cut across the country. That is going to hurt Vermont, and it is\ngoing to hurt everyone.\n  In Vermont, some homeowners, to save money on their energy bills, use\nthe home energy efficiency upgrades that were made possible under the\nInflation Reduction Act. Those are being ripped apart. Folks saved\nabout $420 to $980 a year. That is real money for people living\npaycheck to paycheck. This bill scraps that.\n  Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good, we still have time\nto kill this bill, and we should kill this bill. We Democrats are\nunited in opposition to this bill, but it is not only Democrats whose\nconstituents are going to be hurt by this bill.\n  My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have an opportunity to\nmake a choice. Read the bill and decide: Are you going to protect your\nconstituents who are going to suffer the same afflictions as my\nconstituents or are you going to defer to President Trump?\n  The bad in this bill is going to inflict bipartisan pain. This is not\naiming at red States or blue States. This is aimed at working-class and\nmiddle-class Americans.\n  Just to give you an example, in West Virginia, a great State I\nvisited, I went into a coal mine--the hardest working people ever,\nexcept maybe for Vermont dairy farmers. More than 76,000 people in West\nVirginia will lose access to healthcare because of this bill. And\n278,000 West Virginians are going to lose access to the nutrition\nprogram, SNAP.\n  In Tennessee, more than 295,000 people will lose access to\nhealthcare--Medicaid--through this bill. And for SNAP, it means 758,000\nTennesseans lose their nutrition benefits.\n  I just want to repeat here. This is the bipartisan infliction of\npain. This is\n\n[[Page S3661]]\n\nreal. This is real. And it is because of the tax cut largely directed\nto the very wealthy people.\n  Is it worth inflicting that kind of pain on so many when the tax cut\nbenefits so few?\n  Let's talk more about what is in this bill, because the American\npeople need to know what we are voting on.\n  It makes major cuts, of course, as I have said, in Medicaid. But the\nimmediate effect of those Medicaid cuts is it really threatens the\nfinancial stability and the viability of the community hospitals that\nare in all of our communities.\n  Folks are going to show up to get care. Across the country, 17\nmillion people will lose any reimbursement for Medicaid. So they will\ngo to our community hospitals, and they will do what they do: They will\nprovide care, even if they don't get paid. But they can only do that\nfor so long. So those hospitals are literally threatening to go out of\nbusiness in every single State.\n  This bill cuts Medicaid by over $930 billion. So that ripple effect\nis going to hurt all of our hospitals, and, absolutely, some of those\nare going to close. By the way, that is going to result in a higher\ncost shift so that those employers who are doing everything they can to\nprovide employer-sponsored healthcare for their employees are going to\nsee their premiums spike badly.\n  The bill is going to rip away food assistance programs that more than\n42 million Americans need. That is $6 a day, as I mentioned, and that\nwill be gone.\n  This, by the way, has a real impact on our farmers. They put food on\nour tables. One of the things that our farmers are so proud of is they\nfeed America, and they feed the world. And they have been able to\nsupply the food that is then distributed through the SNAP program. It\nis going to undercut the revenue that they get for doing really good\nfor a lot of people across our country.\n\n  The bill takes us backward in our effort to expand energy production\nand fight climate change. The bill actually adds a tax on wind and\nsolar. It takes away the incentives, and it adds a tax.\n  Ninety-five percent of the new electric generation--and we need so\nmuch more of it--in the past few years has come from clean energy. If\nwe don't have that going into production to provide energy, along with\nstorage technology, the cost of electricity to the people you represent\nand the folks I respect in Vermont is going up.\n  There is another aspect of this bill that just makes no sense being\nin this bill. It makes no sense being in any bill, particularly. It is\na Republican-led bill that strips States of their right to pass laws to\nprotect their consumers against AI threats and against social media\nthreats. It imposes a moratorium for 10 years on any States taking any\naction. This affects Vermont directly. It affects every single one of\nour States.\n  How, I ask, can one argue they are for State rights and then strip\nStates of being able to act on behalf of their own citizens?\n  This bill is a real threat to our economy. It is going to increase\nthe debt, already about $35 trillion, by at least $3.3 trillion. And\nfor what? Tax cuts to very, very wealthy people--very wealthy people--\nmultinational corporations that are having record profits, at the\nexpense of healthcare, at the expense of our community hospitals, at\nthe expense of our investments in clean energy, at the expense of our\nfood and nutrition programs.\n  Invest it in what? It is destructive. It is not productive.\n  Inflation is going up under this bill. Just think of how much more we\nare going to pay in debt service--dead money. It is about $1 trillion.\n  Home mortgages, folks, are going to be paying at least $1,000 more;\nsmall business loans, at least $1,000 more. Grocery prices are\ndefinitely going up for all Americans.\n  There is an ugly aspect in this bill, as well, and it is that this\nbill is entirely in service of providing tax cuts largely to the very\nwealthy. The top 1 percent of income earners in this country will get\n60 percent of the benefit. That is a couple hundred thousand people who\nwill get immense tax breaks that exceed the so-called tax breaks that\ngo to a couple hundred million Americans. And it is those in the 60-\npercent category who are going to be paying the higher prices for\nutilities, credit card debt, the cost of a car loan, rent, and\ngroceries.\n  So I say, let's come to our senses and not do something that is a\nmassive escalation of the wealth transferred from the working class and\nthe middle class to the very, very wealthy.\n  Many of us have a number of amendments--and I do, too--to try to make\nthe point that our job is to make things better for everyday working\nAmericans, not inflict additional burdens on them.\n  We have a job to do, and it is to strengthen this economy and provide\nmore stability for our families in our communities. In this bill, we\nare doing exactly the opposite--aggravating income inequality, not\nmitigating it; accelerating climate change, rather than diminishing\nit--making life tougher for everyday families.\n  I urge my colleagues to defeat this bill.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.\n  Mr. KING. Mr. President, this bill is a farce. Imagine a bunch of\nguys sitting around the table and saying: I have got a great idea.\nLet's give $32,000 worth of tax breaks to a millionaire, and we will\npay for it by taking health insurance away from lower income and\nmiddle-income people. And to top it off, how about we cut food stamps--\nwe cut SNAP--we cut food aid to people?\n  It is a joke. I would say it was a joke, except it is not the least\nbit funny.\n  I have been in this business of public policy now for 20 years--8\nyears as Governor, 12 years in the U.S. Senate. I have never seen a\nbill this bad. I have never seen a bill that is this irresponsible,\nregressive, and downright cruel.\n  The basic premise of the bill, as I said, is to cut benefits for the\nAmerican people, particularly in the areas of healthcare and food, in\nexchange for tax cuts for the very wealthy.\n  I know my colleagues are going to come to the floor, because I have\nhad this discussion before, and they are going to say: Oh, no, this is\na middle-class tax cut. This is going to cut taxes for people in the\nmiddle class.\n  Well, here is a little suggestion of how to get out of this mess: If\nyou cap the tax cuts at people making $400,000 a year--which is a\npretty healthy income--the cost of this bill would drop by 60 percent,\nand you wouldn't have any need to cut Medicaid. By the way, there are\nMedicare cuts also built into this, and SNAP. So $400,000--in other\nwords, we are for the middle-class tax cuts. That is OK. But just stop\nit at $400,000, and don't give the tax breaks to the people--a\nmillionaire, under this bill, gets a $32,000 tax cut. A person making\n$5 million or $10 million gets a couple hundred thousand dollars of tax\ncut. I don't think they need it. They sure as hell don't need it as\nmuch as people need health insurance.\n\n  So just to put a fine point on it, this bill is literally--and\nremember my $400,000 suggestion so we are taking care of the middle\nclass. But with 60 percent of the cost above $400,000 in income, this\nbill is literally taking food out of the mouths of kids to give a\nmillionaire a $32,000 tax break.\n  Those are the facts. They are ugly. And like I say, if we were\ntalking about this at random, sitting around at a lunch table, people\nwould say: Well, that is a joke. That is ridiculous. Nobody would\nsuggest that.\n  But here we are. And several of my colleagues, including Senator\nTillis from North Carolina, have pointed out there is no rush on this\nbill. We don't have to do this bill by July 4 or July 10. There is no\nrush. These tax cuts don't expire until the end of the year. Let's take\nour time and write a decent bill. Let's kill this bill. It would only\ntake four or five Senators on the other side. We can kill this thing\nand start over and write a decent bill, on a bipartisan basis, and I\nthink we would find agreement on middle-class tax cuts.\n  But I think we can also do some things with expenditures that\nwouldn't be so bloody harmful. Medicaid. Let me start with hospitals.\nIn Maine, I have talked to the hospitals. I have talked to the hospital\nassociation. I have talked to small hospitals, large hospitals. They\nare mostly running on a\n1-, 2-, or 3-percent margin. The analysis is that this could cost us\ntwo to five of our rural hospitals.\n  And when a rural hospital goes out, several things happen. One thing\nis the\n\n[[Page S3662]]\n\neconomy of the town goes with it. In most of these small towns, the\nhospital is the major employer. So you are talking about the economics\nof those jobs in a small town that will make a huge difference in that\nlocal economy.\n  The second thing that happens is a loss of services for everybody in\ntown, not just the Medicaid people. If that hospital closes, everybody\nin town is going to have to drive another 30, 40, 50, 100 miles to get\ncare, and they are going to have to not only--there may be closures;\nthere will certainly be cutting of services. We already have a serious\nproblem in Maine with obstetric services. We have a county with no\nobstetric services. That is only going to get worse under this bill.\n  The hospitals are pleading with us to not do this. And again, do we\nreally need to do this to give a millionaire a $32,000 tax break? It\ndoesn't make any sense.\n  Now, I have talked about hospitals, but let's talk about people. The\nanalysis is that 60,000 people in Maine would lose their insurance\ncoverage--40,000 under Medicaid, about 20,000 under the Affordable Care\nAct.\n  We have had a lot of personal stories tonight. I want to tell a story\nabout myself. When I worked here in the seventies, I had insurance. It\nwas employer-supported insurance. We paid part of the premium. I had\ninsurance as a junior staff member in this body 50 years ago. Because I\nhad that insurance that covered a free checkup, I went in and had my\nfirst physical in 8 years, and I wouldn't have had that physical if the\ninsurance hadn't covered it. I wouldn't have been able to spring for\nit.\n  I had that physical, and the doctors found a little mole on my back.\nThey took it out, and I didn't think much of it. And I went in a week\nlater, and the doctor said: You better sit down, Angus. That was\nmalignant melanoma. You are going to have to have some serious surgery.\n  And a friend of mine who was a doctor said: Angus, here is my best\nadvice. Let them be as radical as they want in that surgery.\n  And I had the surgery, and here I am. If I hadn't had insurance, I\nwouldn't be here. And it has always haunted me that some young man in\nAmerica that same year had malignant melanoma; he didn't have coverage;\nhe didn't have insurance; he didn't get that checkup; and he died.\n  That is wrong. That is immoral. So the idea of cutting health\ninsurance from people is just--oh, well, they just won't have coverage\nfor their doctors' visits. No. People die when they don't have health\ninsurance. There is statistical analysis to bear that out. So this\nisn't any joke.\n  And by the way, people say: Well, we are talking about fraud in\nMedicaid. Listen, at almost a trillion-dollar cut in Medicaid, 15\nmillion people being cut off--40,000 in the State of Maine--that isn't\nfraud; that is cutting people who need the care.\n  And I don't understand the obsession, and I never have--and I stood\nright there and watched John McCain cast that vote to save the\nAffordable Care Act, along with my colleague Susan Collins. I don't\nunderstand this obsession with taking health insurance away from\npeople. I don't get it. Trying to take away the Affordable Care Act in\n2017 or 2018 and now this. What is driving this? What is the cruelty to\ndo this, to take health insurance away from people, knowing that it is\ngoing to cost them--it is hard to calculate the cost--up to and\nincluding losing their lives.\n  OK. Let's talk about SNAP. Let's talk about SNAP. The average benefit\nfor SNAP is $6 a day. You feed yourself on $6 a day. The average cost\nof a meal in the United States is about $10.50 a day, so we are already\nbelow cost, if you will.\n  And here is what it means in my State. Twenty percent of the children\nin my State are food insecure, and we are talking about cutting SNAP\nand taking dollars away from those kids. And I was interested in that,\nand I thought: Oh, that is pretty bad. I am worried Maine is at 20\npercent, 20 percent of our kids are food insecure.\n  So I did a little research. In Arkansas, it is 24 percent of the kids\nwho are food insecure; in Iowa, 17 percent; South Carolina, 14 percent;\nMichigan, 19 percent; Missouri, another 19 percent. That is one out of\nfive kids are food insecure, and we are going to cut that food in order\nto give a millionaire a $32,000 tax cut.\n  That is not only bad policy, it is downright immoral.\n  OK. What is the other problem with this bill? There are so many. So\nmany problems, so little time. It is irresponsible. It adds about $4\ntrillion to the deficit. And by the way, this current policy thing\ndoesn't pass the straight-face test. A seventh grader knows that it is\nnonsense. If this bill doesn't pass, then there isn't a $4 trillion hit\non the budget. If it passes, there is.\n  And the thing that really gives a lie to this nonsense is, also in\nthis bill is a $5 trillion increase in the debt ceiling. If it is not\nreally debt, then we don't need to increase the debt ceiling. It is a\nsham. Voodoo budgeting.\n  So I don't want to hear any more from my colleagues about deficits. I\ndon't want to hear any more crocodile tears about deficits. We are\nmortgaging our future. I hear all this drama about deficits from people\nwho are voting for this bill to add $4 trillion to the deficit\nunnecessarily.\n\n  There is a saying of a famous New Englander: Your actions speak so\nloud, I can't hear your words. Your actions speak so loud, I can't hear\nyour words.\n  Your actions are, you are adding to the deficit unnecessarily, so\ndon't talk to me about deficits.\n  Now, the first rule, if you are in a hole, is stop digging. And we\nare in a hole. We are in a hole. So you stop digging by not passing\nthis bill or not passing it in the extreme form that it is to give the\ntax benefits--60 percent of the tax benefits--to people making over\n$400,000 a year.\n  What has driven the deficit, if you go back and look over the last 20\nyears, there are three things: One was the unpaid-for Bush tax cuts--we\nhad major tax cuts and then a war that we put on the credit card; the\nunpaid-for Trump tax cuts in 2017; and COVID. Now, COVID was an\nemergency. And the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 and 2010, those\nwere emergencies. That is where you run deficits. But you don't run\ndeficits when times are good, and that is exactly what we are doing\nhere.\n  If you are in a hole, stop digging.\n  By the way, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a\nnonpartisan group, has said--and I haven't heard this mentioned--this\nbill will actually accelerate the insolvency of the Social Security\ntrust fund and the Medicare trust fund. There is a nice thing for you.\nIt will make those funds go insolvent sooner than would otherwise be\nthe case.\n  Gutting the IRS. By the way, I have another suggestion for my\ncolleagues. You want to find $600 billion a year? Enforce the tax laws\nagainst cheaters. That is the estimate: $600 billion a year is left on\nthe table because cheaters, mostly high-income, are not paying the\ntaxes they owe. The poor stiff that gets a 1040, he has to pay it.\nEverybody knows what he is making. But it is these people with the\nfancy lawyers and accountants--and I am not talking about tax avoidance\nhere. I am talking about stone-cold tax evasion, $600 billion a year.\nThat would be nice, instead of cutting Medicare and Medicaid and food\nstamps.\n  Another piece of this bill that hasn't gotten much attention is ICE.\nThe current budget of ICE is $9 billion a year. Under this, they are\nincreasing it $75 billion over 4 years. That is an additional $18\nbillion a year. They are tripling the budget of ICE. They are tripling\nthe budget. We are dangerously close to creating a Federal police\nforce, which we have never had in this country, and we shouldn't have.\n  And by the way, I have never in my life seen a law enforcement\nofficer with a mask on. I don't get where that came from, a law\nenforcement officer wearing a mask. Where I come from, people that wear\nmasks are not the good guys, and I don't understand that.\n  But to triple this budget, you wonder where that is going to take\nthis country.\n  So let me go back to the beginning. All this damage to give a tax\nbreak to a guy who is making a million bucks.\n  The chairman of the Finance Committee wasn't here, I think, when I\nsaid this. Mr. Chairman, if we limit the tax cuts to people making\n$400,000 and less, it will reduce the cost of this bill by 60 percent.\nIt will ameliorate the need for any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. It would\nalso minimize the hit on the debt and the deficit.\n\n[[Page S3663]]\n\n  There is no rush to pass this bill. Let's kill it, give it a merciful\ndeath over the next 24 hours, and then start over writing a responsible\nbill to deal with the expiring tax cuts for the middle class and deal\nwith issues within the Federal Government that should be addressed.\n  But this bill is not the answer. It is a sham, and it is a shame, and\nit is embarrassing to even be debating this bill. It should have never\ncome before us in this form. I hope that enough of my colleagues will\nsee that this is an unnecessary damage to the citizens of this country\nand the citizens of their State. Every State's citizens are going to\nsuffer, and this is something that we, in this body, can and should\nprevent.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2025-06-28-pt1-PgS3651"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 57.603619992733, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}