During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about President Trump's 'skinny budget' for FY26.
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00:00A few months into Donald Trump's second term, Americans are getting a clear look about what
00:04Trump 2.0 is all about.
00:07Last week, Americans got a good look at Trump 2.0 when the White House released its so-called
00:14skinny budget.
00:16Trump's days of pretending to be a populist are over.
00:21His budget is an all-out assault on health care, education, public safety, programs that
00:26help small businesses.
00:28They want to axe domestic programs that help tens of millions of people, hundreds of millions
00:33really, by nearly a quarter.
00:37It's radical to its rotten core.
00:39The budget is proof positive that the emperor has no clothes.
00:43Donald Trump is a con man who does not care one iota about the struggle of everyday Americans.
00:49He'd rather listen to his billionaire buddies than to the American people in terms of what
00:54the country needs.
00:56But few things crystallize Trump's 2.0 as much as Republicans' signature bill, a massive
01:03tax break for billionaires financed by the biggest cuts to Medicaid ever.
01:09For months, Republicans have tried to muddle their way forward on their agenda with magic
01:14talk totally severed from reality.
01:17Republicans say they want trillions in tax giveaways for the wealthy, trillions in spending
01:21cuts, but somehow claim these drastic changes won't hurt average Americans.
01:26Cut Medicaid, they say, but nobody will lose benefits.
01:29That is totally illogical.
01:32Even the worst studies that I have seen show that the percentage of, quote, waste, fraud,
01:37and abuse is much, much less than the $880 billion they say they're going to cut.
01:44They really want to slash Medicaid to the bone.
01:47Waste is something of a pretext for them.
01:51I don't know.
01:52Reality is now coming back to bite our Republican colleagues.
01:56In the House, Republicans are at total loggerheads about how to move forward.
02:01Never mind you, now mind you, there is zero disagreement around Republicans when it comes
02:06to the big goal, massive tax giveaways for the wealthy.
02:11They agree on axing popular programs like Medicaid, like Social Security, like veterans.
02:16What Republicans disagree on is simply the method for screwing Americans over, which is the better
02:23way to screw Americans over.
02:25That's what they disagree on.
02:26That's what they're fighting about, but not on the goals which are pernicious.
02:30Why do Republicans face such a conundrum where they are so at odds with one another?
02:38Simple answer?
02:39Because their agenda is so unpopular with the American people, and neither House and no Republican
02:45Senator wants to be left holding this hot potato.
02:49The backlash Republicans are getting from the public, whether it's at town halls or in
02:53the streets or through dismal polling data, should serve as a warning to our colleagues
02:58on the other side.
02:59If they proceed with their agenda, the political outcry will be enormous.
03:05And the idea that some of the Republicans are saying, well, we're going to our leadership
03:08to make a request.
03:10If that request is not granted, if Medicaid is still slashed, for instance, it's how they
03:15vote that is going to matter, what they put into effect.
03:19Not going to constituents say, oh, I agree with you.
03:22I'll go to my leadership.
03:24But when the leadership says no, are they going to vote against the bill?
03:28We'll see.
03:29I doubt it.
03:30I very much doubt it.
03:32It will not.
03:33Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's going to happen.
03:35And they, each Republican who votes for reconciliation and bad budgets, will be left holding that
03:42hot potato.