Rosen: “This DC Republican bill is extreme. It’s cruel. And it’s not what the American people want. They want lower costs. They want economic security. They want their kids to have care when they’re sick, and a fair shot to thrive. They don’t want their future sold off to billionaires.”
Watch Senator Rosen’s Full Remarks HERE.
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) took to the Senate floor to speak out against Senate Republicans’ extreme tax and spending bill, which will severely harm Nevada families by ripping away Medicaid and food assistance from millions of Americans, all to pay for more tax cuts for major corporations and the ultra-wealthy.
Below are excerpts of Senator Rosen’s floor remarks:
I rise today to express my strong opposition to the devastating and dangerous tax and spending bill that Senate Republicans are trying to jam through this weekend on a party-line vote, a bill that will gut essential programs like Medicaid and SNAP, just to pay for even more tax breaks for billionaires.
Let’s be clear about what’s happening here. This Big Beautiful Betrayal isn’t about fiscal discipline – it’s fiscally reckless. It’s not about responsibility or doing what’s best for average Americans. It’s about misguided priorities. It’s about giving more to the ultra-wealthy on the backs of hardworking families.
[…]
Earlier this year, I held a roundtable in Las Vegas with Nevada families who rely on Medicaid – not as a talking point, not as a “pay for” in a budget bill – but as a lifeline.
I talked to people like Jessica, whose daughter Kay is four years old, and she was born with Down Syndrome and was recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
Jessica relies on Medicaid to help cover the cost of weekly physical, speech, and occupational therapies for Kay, all of which are responsible for helping her learn to walk, to use utensils, to write her own name.
Kay also has a cardiologist and an endocrinologist to manage conditions related to her Down Syndrome. Medicaid covers those doctors.
It covers her insulin. And it covers the insulin pump that allows Jessica to manage her daughter’s diabetes around the clock — because Kay can’t communicate when her blood sugar is dangerously high or low.
Jessica said something at that roundtable I’ll never forget.
She told me, QUOTE: I can’t imagine losing Medicaid… obviously I’m going to have to give up something, because I’m not gonna let her go without insulin and the lifesaving care that she needs. I can’t imagine having to think about what I’d have to cut or what I’d have to do in order to pay for the lifesaving care that she needs and deserves.” END QUOTE.
[…]
This bill would also slash SNAP, the nutrition program that helps nearly one in six Nevadans put food on the table — and most of those recipients are children.
When they cut this program, what are families supposed to do? How will they put food on the table?
And it doesn’t stop there. This bill threatens thousands of good-paying, union jobs in Nevada and across the country by letting critical tax credits for solar and wind projects expire before those projects can even get off the ground.
In Nevada, we have more solar jobs per capita than any other state, and enough solar energy to power nearly one point three million homes. This bill will decimate this growing industry.
And on top of that, Republicans have included an additional new tax on wind and solar projects, which won’t just kill the industry, it’ll raise energy prices for hardworking families.
All of this is causing companies across the country to stall or cancel projects over the uncertainty of losing access to these credits. That means fewer jobs, less investment, and more families left wondering how they’ll make ends meet.
We’re talking about an industry that supports two hundred and eighty thousand American workers–electricians, technicians, construction crews–and we’re pulling the rug out from under them and killing thousands of clean energy jobs.
Anyone who supports this bill is not pro-worker. They are not looking out for underdogs…for hardworking families. They’re focused on making the rich richer.
[…]
I will not stand by and let Nevada’s families lose access to their health care, and food assistance, and jobs, all so billionaires can pad their pockets.
And let’s remember what we did when DEMOCRATS used the reconciliation process.
We expanded health insurance subsidies and gave Medicare authority to negotiate lower drug prices. We invested in clean energy. We cut costs for families, instead of cutting lifelines.
This DC Republican bill is extreme. It’s cruel. And it’s not what the American people want.
They want lower costs. They want economic security. They want their kids to have care when they’re sick, and a fair shot to thrive. They don’t want their future sold off to billionaires.
So I say to my Republican colleagues: don’t turn your backs on families who need it the most. Don’t gut Medicaid to give billionaires a tax cut.
The American people deserve better. And I will fight every step of the way to make sure they get it.
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