Watch Senator Rosen’s Full Remarks HERE.
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) took to the Senate floor to call out Congressional Republicans for their budget plan, which cuts funding to vital programs like Medicaid and SNAP in favor of funding tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. In her speech, Senator Rosen emphasized how these cuts will hurt hardworking Nevadans.
Below are excerpts of Senator Rosen’s floor remarks:
Mr. President,
I rise today to speak on an issue that will affect millions of hardworking families, seniors, children, veterans, and any American who relies on essential services.
As we’ll soon see, Republicans are going to use the budget reconciliation process, a tool that was originally designed to help rein in wasteful spending and lower the national debt, to pass massive new tax cuts for billionaires and the ultra-wealthy.
And to pay for these tax breaks, they’re proposing devastating cuts to vital programs that people in my state of Nevada rely on, including Medicaid, SNAP, and supplemental programs for women, infants, and children.
So let me say that again. Congressional Republicans are going to cut critical government programs like Medicaid and SNAP in order to give the wealthiest Americans even more tax cuts. You got that right.
Their policies are, well, billionaires win, and families lose.
This isn’t “fiscal responsibility,” it’s moral negligence.
This isn’t just about economic policy. This is about the livelihoods of everyday Americans.
At a time when Nevadans are already grappling with economic hardship and a rising cost of living, these actions by my Republican colleagues, well, they’re just plain wrong. They’re just out of step.
Instead of using this budget process to provide relief for hardworking families, well, Republicans are exploiting it to push through policies that benefit billionaires like Elon Musk, while leaving millions of Americans – I’ll say it, everyday hardworking families, regular people, everyday people – leaving them all behind, leaving you in the lurch.
Again, their motto seems to be billionaires win, families lose.
[…]
The numbers tell the story.
Extending these tax cuts would give the top one percent of earners – those making roughly $750,000 a year or more – a tax cut averaging more than $60,000 a year.
And I’m going to put that in perspective for a moment. The tax cut the top one percent would get is more than the total income of most families who rely on Medicare or SNAP, or just most families in general, it’s the top one percent. And the two programs Republicans are planning to cut – Medicare and SNAP – they’re going to cut them in order to pay for tax cuts – trillions of dollars – again, for who? Elon Musk and their billionaire buddies.
So you heard that right. These expanded tax cuts will cost the federal government $4.2 trillion.
So you might be asking yourself “wait, so how are Republicans – how are they going to pay for all of this?”
Well, in order to help offset some of that cost, they’re going to decrease funding for Medicaid, for SNAP, and other services that support people with disabilities and elderly individuals.
[…]
These existing cuts coupled with the Republicans proposed budget cuts – it’s just going to be devastating for American families.
And the fact that these cuts are being made to give billionaires even more tax breaks, well, it’s unconscionable.
The American people deserve better.
They deserve a government that works for them, that works for our families, not for the ultra-wealthy.
At the end of the day, Mr. President, Republicans have to decide who they’re fighting for.
Because right now, with this budget proposal, they’re fighting for billionaires and the largest corporations who have already benefited from their 2017 tax cuts.
We cannot and we must not turn our backs on the American people.
We cannot allow billionaires to get richer on the backs of everyday Americans.
We cannot let the motto be for this Administration billionaires win and families lose. Because families are the backbone of America. Families are the backbone of America, and they deserve respect and attention. And we cannot allow the billionaires to break their backs.
So I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come together and put the American people first. People over billionaires. Let’s work together to strengthen our economy, protect our vital programs, and ensure that everyone, regardless of their wealth or status, has an equal opportunity to succeed.
Thank you.
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