Video: Blumenthal Slams Republican Efforts to Slash Health Care & Skyrocket Costs

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Tonight, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) spoke on the Senate Floor to condemn Republican efforts to pass a budget bill that would gut critical social safety net programs, rip away health care from millions of Americans, and explode the debt. Blumenthal highlighted the impact that the Republican budget bill could have not only on his home state of Connecticut, but also on “red states” like Louisiana and Utah.

“And for Louisiana, where this measure, if it's passed, will mean that my colleagues from Louisiana are voting to kick roughly 250,000 people in their state off health insurance. They will be voting for a bill that could close 33 rural hospitals in their state alone and cost their state's health care providers $588 million for services that newly [uninsured] patients simply will not be able to pay back,” said Blumenthal. “Their state program would lose $4 billion. That's Louisiana alone, in funding. These numbers are staggering. They are the reason that every major health system in Louisiana is opposing this bill.”

“And in Utah, same tragic scenario unfolding in a state where 337,000 children and adults depend on Medicaid. Nearly half of all children in Utah are covered by Medicaid. Fifty-nine percent of nursing home residents, 60,000 people living in rural Utah communities covered by Medicaid,” Blumenthal said. “If this bill passes, at least 180,000 Utahans will lose health care coverage, and Utah's uninsured rate will increase by a staggering 67 percent. If this bill passes, 31,000 of the people in Utah could see their benefits slashed and 13,000 would risk losing their benefits entirely.”

The full video of Blumenthal remarks is available here and the transcript is copied below.

Senator Blumenthal: I'm honored to follow my colleague, Senator Reed. He is absolutely right that this bill is almost un-American. In fact, I would say it is un-American because it is so destructive to the middle class, to health care, to education, to basic fairness and decency in our great country, the greatest country in the history of the world. It would balloon the debt and the deficit by $4 trillion. Yet, my Republican colleagues have sought to disguise and hide that reprehensible pain and damage to the American system. It would cut Medicaid by 930 billion, which means billions in cuts for Connecticut, hundreds of thousands of Connecticut children and families off Medicaid.

Food nutrition, shredded. And student loans, decimated. These kinds of impacts on Connecticut are mirrored through the whole country, and the American people are beginning to get it. That's why this bill, the so-called one Big, Beautiful Bill is so deeply unpopular, in fact by two to one majority. I want to talk not only about Connecticut but two of the states that are represented by colleagues here. They are so-called red states. But make no mistake, this bill is seismically catastrophic not just for Connecticut but for the whole country.

And for Louisiana, where this measure, if it's passed, will mean that my colleagues from Louisiana are voting to kick roughly 250,000 people in their state off health insurance. They will be voting for a bill that could close 33 rural hospitals in their state alone and cost their state's health care providers $588 million for services that newly [uninsured] patients simply will not be able to pay back. Their state program would lose $4 billion. That's Louisiana alone, in funding. These numbers are staggering. They are the reason that every major health system in Louisiana is opposing this bill. Just yesterday they sent a letter warning that cuts in this bill, and I'm quoting the Louisiana health care providers here, quote, would be historic in their devastation and warrant our shared advocacy to protect our patients and the care we provide them in hospitals and clinics. I could go on about Louisiana. I'm going to abbreviate my remarks and put my full statement in the record if there is no objection, Mr. President.

Presiding Officer: Without objection.

Senator Blumenthal: But this bill also reduces SNAP benefits for 206,000 Louisianians. It eliminates the benefit entirely for 94,000 of them. I want to see my colleagues from Louisiana go home and face their constituents having cut the legs from SNAP and Medicaid programs and many other benefits.

And in Utah, same tragic scenario unfolding in a state where 337,000 children and adults depend on Medicaid. Nearly half of all children in Utah are covered by Medicaid. Fifty-nine percent of nursing home residents, 60,000 people living in rural Utah communities covered by Medicaid. If this bill passes, at least 180,000 Utahans will lose health care coverage, and Utah's uninsured rate will increase by a staggering 67 percent. If this bill passes, 31,000 of the people in Utah could see their benefits slashed and 13,000 would risk losing their benefits entirely.

Now I just want to say in conclusion, these numbers for Connecticut, for Louisiana, for Utah, for the state of Washington where my wonderful colleague, Senator Cantwell, will be talking shortly. They're not just numbers. They are faces. They are lives. They're children who are just beginning to be Americans. And their productivity, their contributions back to America will be hamstrung. Their lives will be financially handicapped, and health-wise they will be impaired as a result of these irresponsible and reprehensible cuts.

I couldn't be angrier about these kinds of cuts in programs done only so that the ultra-wealthy will receive tax cuts. I'm willing to bet that a lot of those billionaires and millionaires would forego those would forego those tax benefits if they understood the consequences. But my Republican colleagues who are in disarray at this moment, they can't come together on a program because they know how abhorrent its effects would be on their states, ought to listen to the people of America, not the ultra-wealthy. And the people are speaking in the polls, they're speaking through their elected representatives, and they are speaking because their conscience simply won't let them support a bill that does such abhorrent damage to the American middle class, the American way of life, American values. And I'm proud to stand here. I wish we weren't here going all night into Monday morning. But I'm proud to stand here with my colleagues. And I just wish my Republican colleagues were on the same sides of these issues because they're going to go home and they'll have to face the children and families who will be hurt so deeply by this bill.

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

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