less and delivers the important services that they expect the government to deliver. thank you. [indiscernible chatter] sen. schumer: ok, hello, everybody. i am proud to be joined by senators merkley and mckinney. the northwest 20. this week will mark one month since donald trump sworn in as

president. in the first month donald trump has waged a scorched-earth campaign against the rule of law. and for one simple reason. to give his beginner buddies a tax break and have the american people pay the cost. house republicans say one bill. senate republican say two bills. donald trump is changing his mind every hour. yesterday senate republicans voted to proceed on their budget resolution, but this morning you saw the president trump flip the script again, further selling chaos. republicans have talked a big game about flooding the zone, but instead they are drowning in their own chaos and confusion. if this mess republicans have created for themselves as a preview of how they will govern, it bodes very poorly for them,

but more importantly for the country. of course, republicans could do two bills, 10 bills, 50 bills, 100 bills. it does not make a difference, because of the one think they are united on -- the one think they are trying to get done, house and senate republicans, donald trump and elon musk is to give their billionaire buddies a tax break and have the american people pay the cost, no matter what it is. senate democrats will expose republican's reconciliation budget bill for exactly for what it is. a sinister front for clearing the way to cut taxes for donald trump's billionaire buddies. now, this is going to be a long, drawnout fight. the reconciliation budget bill is only the first step, albeit an important one. democrats are glad to have this debate with the republicans.

we will show the hollowness of republican arguments and cutting ways. we will expose republican at times to good health care so that they can help their billionaire buddies. we will expose their attempts to medicaid, housing, nih, empower doge all for one purpose. helping their billionaire buddies with another tax break. now they are going to try to change the subject. sure, donald trump is trying to divert. gulf of america, build hotels in gaza, annexing canada. these are distractions that they do to hide the truth, because they know how unpopular their tax policy is. it was unpopular in 2017, and because such a small group of very wealthy people who do not want to pay taxes have such ironclad control over the republican party, they are going at it again. senate democrats will not relent. we will continue to expose the

republicans for what they are in giving tax breaks for billionaires. we are going to do it in reconciliation, the budget and throughout the months and years ahead, because the bottom line is very simple. the last thing americans went to see is a tax break for billionaires. >> thank you. trump is tossing our bipartisan funding lot into the shredder and elon is decimating agencies with zero concept of what our federal workers actually do, whether it is managing the nuclear weapons stockpile or responding to bird flu, senate republicans are positively sprinting to make trillions in cuts that will hurt red and blue states so they can shower more tax cuts onto the richest people in the world. it is no mystery why billionaires like donald trump and elon musk love this plan. they are getting all of the

benefits, but they are not the ones footing the bill. middle-class americans will pay for republicans' billionaire tax cuts, and the cause will be measured in shuttered family farms, families and kids kicked off medicaid and veterans losing out on hard-earned benefits. that is so backwards we should not be taking food off of the family table to put more fuel into private jets. i grew up in a family that knew what it was like to fall on hard times. my dad was a world war ii veteran. he got too sick to work. he had ms. my mom had to work hard to keep us afloat with v.a. benefits and food stamps, and the new job that she got things to a federal workforce program. it was not easy, but our government was there for them when the hard times came. i know families are struggling now just like my family struggled then.

i hear from them every day. they are working so hard. they play by the rules, and they deserve at the very least the same opportunity my parents had when i was growing up. and i'm not going to stand by silently republicans try to sell that opportunity away to pay for more tax breaks for billionaires. senate democrats are going to make sure the american people know this is th emost flat out for a billionaire, anti-middle-class we have ever seen -- budget we have ever seen. there is zero chance we will let republicans pass this pro beginner budget the easy way without a fight. we'll put them on the record for everything trump and elon musk are doing to create real fraud, waste, and abuse. we will make sure the people back home know that elon musk is firing the adductors and food safety inspectors for no credible -- no cause whatsoever.

republicans will have to answer, are they for protecting medicaid or for letting kids and seniors lose their health care? are supporting our veterans or for cutting their benefits? these are the kinds of real choices they will have to make with the budget they are laying out. they better get ready for a late night and along morning. >> ranking member carper budget committee. >> families lose and billionaires win. that is the heart and soul of the republican budget resolution. now, there is nothing beautiful about families losing and billionaires winning. there was nothing beautiful about programs that are designed to cut the programs families depend on to thrive and move into the middle class. there is nothing beautiful about giving weight the national

treasury and funding additional tax cuts for the richest americans by cutting programs for families, but trump said again in his tweet again this morning it is a big, beautiful bill. we are here to say there is nothing beautiful about this bill. there was nothing beautiful about cutting medicaid for millions of american families struggling to be on their feet and have the health care that they need so that they can indeed get back into the middle class. there is nothing beautiful about cutting tax credits for middle-class families to buy health insurance on the exchange. health insurance should be a right, not a privilege of being rich. there is nothing beautiful about cutting school lunches or headstart or meeting college more expensive -- or making college more expensive. it means a lot to of every child in america to make it harder to

go down that path. that is a terrible direction. the budget committee report afford provision after provision and said if you do not want to hurt families by cutting medicaid, then vote for our amendment that says medicaid would be protected. democrats had to guess and republican said no. we said protect headstart, republican said no. we know where this is headed, and we are adamantly opposed to this attack on families across america. so, america, democrats are going to stand strong for the families and against cutting those programs for families to stand on their feet so that they can find tax giveaways to the richest americans. sen. schumer: thank you. yes. >> [indiscernible] sen. schumer: of course there is

wasteful spending, but you do not use a meat axe and cut everything. we need to move through congress and see what is wasteful and delimited and see what is not wasteful. they went after community health centers in medicaid. they are among the most efficient producers of health care that we have, yet they tried to eliminate them. it makes no sense. they are using a meat axe and cutting everything, including many things that american families need, want, and approve of. >> [indiscernible] what else do you intend to do to interrupt and discourage? is there a sense that this constitutional body [indiscernible] sen. schumer: the republicans

seem to be going along in the senate and dell server things that they know are wrong, and hopefully at some point they may join us, but they have not yet, so we are going on our own and pursuing this in four ways. one, communicating to the american people how bad this is so that they can communicate that to the republican senators thus far seem to be going along with it. two, legal. we have had a lot of success on thecal fronts. we are working with a's, other groups, and three quarters of the cases that have gone before the courts, we have gotten tro 's. the third is oversight. we are having -- we have our portal for those whistleblowers who want to report things in. we have gotten thousands of examples, and we have strike forces that are going to hold hearings to point this out in the legislation. we will try to do whatever we

can legislatively. yes. >> this is something senator murray alluded to. it will be a long night. what can we expect legislatively in terms of these amendments? sen. schumer:, stay tuned, but the answer to all three is less -- yes. >> [indiscernible] sen. schumer: i have not seen the letter yet. it is a five-page letter. thank you, everybody. announcer: vice president jd vance is scheduled to give remarks on thursday at the conservative political action conference. watch a live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now,

or >> the vice president is scheduled to give remarks on thursday at the conservative conference. watch live on c-span, our free mobile app, or c-span.org. >> looking to contact your members of congress? c-span is making it easy for you with our 2025 congressional directory. did essential contact information for government officials all in one place. this compact spiral-bound guide contains information on every house and senate member. and state governors. every purchase helps