During remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about Republican tax cuts.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Now, the meeting with Speaker Johnson.
00:02Later today, Senate Republicans will meet with Speaker Mike Johnson
00:06to lay out, as has been described, the quote, large-scale and quote, far-reaching agenda
00:11Republicans plan for America should they regain control of government.
00:16I'll spoil the ending right now.
00:18If there's one thing Republicans absolutely love to do in Congress,
00:23it's passing tax giveaways for the very wealthy.
00:26That's what they plan on talking about today.
00:29Using reconciliation to gut as much of the Democrats' middle-class agenda as possible
00:35while passing another round of costly tax breaks that cater to wealthy elites.
00:40I understand that nowadays it's tempting to think about elections just in terms of personalities.
00:46But that is a grave mistake.
00:48Look at the agendas. Look at what Republicans say they want to do.
00:52Republicans say their biggest priority, their North Star,
00:55is undoing all the things President Biden and we Democrats have passed these past few years
01:02while recycling the same Trump tax cuts that proved to be a dud seven years ago.
01:09Remember 2018?
01:11They couldn't even run on these things because Democrats had made a strong message
01:15that these weren't tax cuts for the middle class.
01:17These were tax cuts to benefit the very, very wealthy.
01:22So they're not going to be able to sustain this argument,
01:25but their right-wing ideologues push them in a direction that many of them probably know is wrong.
01:31It also means if they want to repeal everything the Democrats did,
01:35it means repealing a $35-a-month insulin for people on Medicare.
01:39That's what Republicans want.
01:41It means stopping Medicare from negotiating the price of prescription drugs.
01:46That's what Republicans want, too.
01:48It's also, by the way, what Big Pharma wants.
01:51It means cutting programs that feed kids during summer breaks,
01:55that feed seniors like Meals on Wheels,
01:58that fight congestion on our streets and pollution in our air.
02:01To Republicans, these things are like their version of greatest hits.
02:06It means cutting all the clean energy investments we've passed
02:10that create good-paying jobs and protect our environments.
02:13Republicans are in the pocket of big oil,
02:16which will always oppose efforts to grow clean energy.
02:19And remember what Donald Trump said to oil executives recently at Mar-a-Lago.
02:24If they back him, he will do as much as possible
02:27to repeal our climate agenda starting on day one.
02:30So anyone who cares about the climate
02:32and sees the changing weather and the tornadoes and the hurricanes
02:37and all the bad weather, the cold waves and the heat waves,
02:43well, our Republican friends want to undo the great progress we made in the IRA
02:48and will try to do it in reconciliation.
02:51And that's a real threat.
02:53I know Republicans wreathe in pain.
02:56Finally, it also means, as much as Republicans try to avoid saying it,
03:01putting vital programs like Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block
03:05and telling seniors that the Social Security retirement age is going to go up.
03:10I know Republicans writhe in pain whenever people bring this up.
03:14But look at the platform released by the Republican Study Committee,
03:18which covers over 180 House members.
03:21And let's not forget, if they keep control of the House,
03:26which I hope they won't, don't believe they won't,
03:29they're going to set the agenda.
03:31And then Senate Republicans, even those who know better, will just blindly follow.
03:36And they, in the House study, in the Republican Study Committee,
03:39180 of the 220-some-odd Republicans endorsed not only a national abortion ban,
03:47but cuts for Social Security and Medicare.
03:50So that's what they're going to do.
03:52And who here remembers the campaign platform
03:55that our colleague from Florida released back in 2022?
03:59He's now running for leader over here.
04:02He thought it was a good idea for Republicans to run on tax hikes for the middle class
04:06while putting programs like Social Security and Medicare at risk.
04:10What a shock.
04:12This message didn't work with the American people.
04:15I don't think they're working with the voters of Florida either.
04:18And speaking of tax cuts, let me add this.
04:21According to the Washington Post,
04:23Republicans not only plan to do another round of Trump's tax cuts for the very rich,
04:27they want to go even further.
04:29They want even lower rates for corporations.
04:33They want even lower rates for those making over a billion dollars a year
04:36while making it easier for tax cheats to get away without paying their fair share.
04:41Donald Trump's message to donors has reportedly been pretty simple.
04:45Support me, I'll get you a sweet tax deal in return.
04:49Republicans love to claim that they're party of fiscal responsibility,
04:53but that goes out the window whenever they start salivating
04:56over the thought of deep tax cuts for the high-end people in America.
05:00The CBO has pointed out that extending the Trump tax cut alone
05:05would add a whopping $4.5 trillion to the deficit.
05:09So, you want to cut spending when it comes to feeding kids
05:13or educating kids or helping kids pay for college?
05:17You want to cut the deficit, rather?
05:20And that's your way of cutting the deficit?
05:23By cutting money to feed kids or educate kids?
05:26Avoid the high cost of college?
05:29But the deficit doesn't matter when it means tax cuts for the very, very wealthy.
05:35It's other callous. It's utterly callous.
05:38When it comes to funding things like nutrition or health care for kids,
05:41they scream and holler that we can't add to the deficit.
05:44But when it comes to sweeping tax cuts for the ultra-rich,
05:48suddenly the deficit doesn't matter.
05:51The old cliché says that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
05:56Republicans today have been totally transformed
05:59by the cult of personality of Donald Trump.
06:02But if they're given control of government,
06:04they'll continue to give middle-class Americans
06:07the same raw deal Republicans have pushed for years.
06:10Tax giveaways for the ultra-rich and crumbs for everyone else.
06:14I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.