Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Donald Trump And Elon Musk Slashing Essential Workers And Vital Programs At HHS

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor condemning Donald Trump and Elon Musk for gutting the federal government by firing necessary workers and beneficial programs. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

This morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that Donald Trump and Secretary Kennedy are planning to cut 10,000 jobs – 10,000 jobs – at HHS.

Let’s be very clear about what these layoffs represent: this is an assault on Medicare, an assault on Medicaid, and an assault on families and consumers from one corner of the country to the next.

When you fire people who provide Medicare and Medicaid, that is the same as a benefit cut.

When you fire people who prevent the spread of diseases like measles, America will get sicker. Schools will get sicker. People, families will suffer.

Mass layoffs to Medicare workers will not make things more efficient. Mass layoffs to Medicaid workers will not make things more efficient.

It is more sabotage, just like the attacks on Social Security. Donald Trump and Secretary Kennedy should reverse this attack on Medicare and Medicaid immediately.

And where are our Republican colleagues? They say they want to protect Medicare. Some of them are worried about cutting Medicaid. We heard them say it. Well, when you cut 10,000 employees from HHS, you are cutting Medicare and Medicaid in terms of the benefits people will receive.

It's similar to what they're doing on Social Security. They don't say outright they're going to eliminate it, but they try to strangle it. They try to strangle it, and the American people suffer. So, that happened on Social Security yesterday.

Yesterday, after a huge wave of public outrage, the Social Security Administration temporarily delayed its plan to cut phone services for seniors and people with disabilities.

But this is only a two week delay. This is not stopping it. It's just delaying it because of the outrage, hoping it will subside, but it won't. Americans from one end of the country to the other want to keep their Social Security.

What Donald Trump and DOGE are doing to Social Security is strangulation – they are taking a telephone wire and wrapping it around the neck of Social Security.

But sadly, it’s only the tip of the iceberg of the attack on Social Security. Up to 60% of all regional offices are shutting down. Dozens of field offices will be closed. Wait times will explode, disability claims will face months of delay, and people will be in danger of losing their benefits they so desperately need.

But the administration doesn’t care.

Listen to this, this is just incredible. It's hard to fathom who's running the show in the Trump administration.

Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary, thinks that if seniors lose their benefits one month, they won’t mind. He said his mother-in-law wouldn't.

Spoken like a true billionaire!

Once again, I remind Mr. Lutnick not everyone has a billionaire son-in-law, and so many people depend on that monthly check for vital things like food and medicine and rent.

And what have Senate Republicans done while Donald Trump and DOGE take a chainsaw to Social Security? Absolutely nothing.

Instead, Senate Republicans are moving forward with President Trump’s nominee to lead the Social Security Administration, who is a self-proclaimed “DOGE person.”

Let me tell my Republican colleagues once again, a vote to confirm Frank Bisignano is a vote to cut Social Security.

Senate Republicans should think very carefully about their vote, because once the damage is done to Social Security, there’s no going back.

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