House and Senate Democrats Oppose a Partisan Spending Bill

Good morning, everyone. House and Senate Democrats met this morning for close to an hour. We are together in defense of the health care of the American people. House and Senate Democrats, over the last several months, worked together to push back against the Republican one big ugly bill, which ripped away health care from the American people, and of course, stole food from the mouths of children. All of this being done to provide massive tax breaks to Republican billionaire donors. House and Senate Democrats were together from the very beginning of that fight through the end. And at this particular moment in time, we're together as it relates to the unprecedented attack on the health care of the American people. Now, House and Senate Democrats are prepared to enter into a bipartisan spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people, including as it relates to their health care and economic well-being. We will not support a partisan spending agreement that continues to rip away health care from the American people, period, full stop. House and Senate, Hakeem and I, all of us here in total agreement. What the Republicans are proposing is not good enough for the American people and not good enough to get our votes. The American people are hurting. Health care is being decimated on all different fronts. People are going to die. People are losing jobs. People are losing health care. We are fighting for that. And people are just seeing their costs go through the roof. They hate it. And probably the number one or number two reason for that is health care and what the Republicans have done in the BBB. Just as on the BBB, we were totally united. Every Democrat in the House and Senate voted against it. On this issue, we're totally united. The Republicans have to come to meet with us in a true bipartisan negotiation to satisfy the American people's needs on health care, or they won't get our votes, plain and simple. Questions? Mr. Leader, can we get your reaction to President Trump blaming the radical left for what happened to Charlotte Cook yesterday? Well, look, the bottom line is this is a time that all Americans should come together and feel and mourn what happened. Violence, which affects so many different people and so many different political persuasions, is an affliction of America. And coming together is what we ought to be doing, not pointing fingers at blame. This moment requires leadership that brings the American people together, as opposed to trying to further divide us. Political violence in any form against any American is unacceptable, should be denounced by everyone. And moving forward, we have to figure out a better way to come together, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans. What is your response? Mr. Schumer, are you saying that the extension of the enhanced ACA subsidies must have in this September 30 package? We are saying that we need. The American people are hurting because of how they have decimated health care. We need a bipartisan negotiation to undo that damage. If they try to jam something down our throats without any compromise, without any real bipartisan discussion, they ain't going to get the votes, plain and simple. Let's be very clear. The American people are in the midst of an unprecedented Republican assault on the health care of the American people, ending Medicaid as we know it, ripping Medicaid away from millions of Americans, closing hospitals, nursing homes, and community-based health clinics all across America, including in rural America, driving up health care premiums, co-pays, and deductibles at a moment where America is already too expensive, imposing a $536 billion potential cut to Medicare. And on top of all of that, the appropriations bill that Republicans are trying to jam down the throats of the American people in the House on health care is an assault. It's an assault on medical research. It's an assault on the Centers for Disease Control. It's an assault on nurses. It's an assault on vaccine availability. It's an assault on public health infrastructure. Republicans are continuing their assault on the health care of the American people, and Democrats are not going to stand idly by. We're going to stand up for the health care of the American people. People are already, just to augment what Hakim said, they're already feeling it. In several states, notices have gone out already how your health care premiums and your insurance is going to go way up, hundreds of dollars. Already in states, hospitals, particularly rural hospitals, are closing. In many more states, including mine, people are being laid off. And why? Because Republicans are pulling the rug out from under the American people on one of the, if not the most vital need, health care. We are not going to stand for it. We are going to fight to get it back. Should Americans have confidence, though, that Congress can do anything to address the stream of political violence? Yesterday was just the latest example, and there's been a lot of fever playing over the years on both sides. This is a moment where all of us have to come together, not as Democrats or Republicans, as blacks or whites or Latinos or Asians, as Americans, we need to come together as Americans. Thank you, everyone. I was just going to say, the first reaction of everybody, everybody, ought to be to say, this is a horrible thing, we ought to come together, and not try to seek political advantage from it.