Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Contrast Between The Democratic And Republican Visions For America

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate ahead of President Biden releasing his budget on the contrast between the Democratic and Republican visions for America. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

President Biden’s budget won’t be released until midday tomorrow, but we can already draw a couple of big conclusions about the contrast between his vision—the Democrat vision—and the Republican vision for our country.

The President, for instance, is willing to do what Republicans are not: lower the deficit in a realistic, responsible way without cutting benefits that tens of millions of people rely on.

In fact, Democrats have already proved it’s possible: the Inflation Reduction Act not only saved families money, it also lowers the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars.

Republicans like to talk about cutting the debt, but Democrats are the ones actually getting it done.

Unlike Republicans, the President is also asking the richest of the rich to pay a little more of their fair share in taxes, so that tens of millions of Americans will not see their Medicare benefits wither away in a few years. Under the President’s plan, Medicare would remain solvent well beyond 2050. Isn’t that great? Medicare, which we’ve always worried about, which is so important to tens of millions of Americans, would stay solvent beyond 2050.

Republicans, of course, want to go the other way: instead of cutting taxes for the middle class, their priority is tax cuts for billionaires and large corporations.

Now, I have no problem with those at the very top—God bless them, they’re doing just fine—but I think most Americans agree that CEOs should never have a lower tax burden than nurses, teachers, cab drivers, firefighters, police officers.

If my friends on the other side want to call that outlandish or extreme, they can go right ahead, but I warn them they’ll be at odds with the vast majority of Americans.

Finally, the President’s plan will build on what Democrats accomplished last year to lower the cost of prescription drugs. For the first time ever, Medicare now has the authority to negotiate the price of certain drugs, saving taxpayers billions of dollars. But the President is right to push further, expanding the list of drugs whose prices Medicare can negotiate. 

So let’s run through the list one more time: The President’s plan is going to continue lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

He is going to ensure that Medicare remains solvent beyond 2050, without cutting a penny in benefits.

He is going to ask the wealthy to pay just a little more in their fair share of taxes, without raising taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year.

And his plan will cut the deficit by $2 trillion—$2 trillion!—over the next ten years.

Speaker McCarthy—what about you? Where is your plan? Enough with the dodging, enough with the excuses. It’s time to level with the American people so they can see the contrast between Democrats and Republicans for themselves.

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