Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Trump And Republicans Trying To Rebrand The “Big, Ugly Bill” As Americans Are Already Feeling The Pain Of The Trump Agenda

Washington, D.C. - Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the consistent chaos and harm caused by President Trump's failed agenda, which is causing American families to pay more for less, and attempts to rebrand his grossly unpopular legislation. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Let me begin by reading a few headlines showing what Donald Trumps so-called "Golden Age" really looks like.

These are headlines from just the past few weeks.

From the Wall Street Journal: "Factory Activity Shrinks for Sixth Month; Tariffs Remain a Key Worry."

Hello!?

Or, how about this headline, also from the Wall Street Journal: "Stagnant Job Market Is a Rising Risk for the U.S. Economy."

Or how about from Bloomberg: "Economists See Slow U.S. Growth, Stubborn Inflation Well into 2026."

Finally, from CBS News: "Families are paying more for back-to-school supplies and waiting longer to finish shopping, data shows."

So, I guess, this is Donald Trump's idea of a "Golden Age": parents pay more for school supplies, a job market on the brink, more and more and more inflation that hurts people's pocketbooks every week, factories slowing to crawl month after month.

That is not - it's certainly not - what the American people have signed up for.

This morning, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and other senior White House officials will hold "briefing sessions" with GOP members to talk about how to rebrand their "Big, Ugly Bill" in hopes they can make it play better with the American people.

They're squirming. They know this bill is unpopular. So, now what do they want to do? Change the name?

Changing the name isn't going to open rural hospitals that are closing. Changing the name is not going to give healthcare to the millions who will lose it. Changing the name is not going to [stop] healthcare premiums [from going] up and up and up.

Donald Trump says he wants to change the name of his "Big, Beautiful Bill" because, as it turns out, it's a terrible name for the biggest healthcare and nutrition cuts in history.

Americans know damn well that these Medicaid and ACA cuts are not big and beautiful.

The fact that Donald Trump thinks that Medicaid cuts are beautiful reveals to America who he cares about and who he does not give a damn about.

And the average American, he doesn't care a bit about. He cares about giving his tax breaks to billionaires, and he cuts healthcare to do it and then he calls that beautiful.

Well, maybe it's beautiful for a few billionaires. But it sure ain't beautiful for tens of millions of Americans who are hurt by it.

Let's be very clear folks: Republicans don't have a branding problem, they have a substance problem. What they did is horrible.

They can call their bill whatever the hell they want, it's not going to change the fact that millions are going to lose healthcare, tens of millions are going to have their premiums go up, rural hospitals will close, and research funding that saves kids from cancer is slashed.

When hospitals close, when people get sick and die, they don't give a damn what Donald Trump's bill is called. They want the Republicans to stand up to Trump - Republicans here in the Senate - and reverse these cuts, even though just about every one of them voted for it.

And if Republicans think that a bunch of branding briefing sessions can change the American people's views of what this bill is all about, they are colossally out of touch.

I spent a month in August traveling from Niagara Falls to Glens Falls.

I met with parents. I met with doctors. I met with nurses. I met with hospital people.

I met with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. People detest this "Big, Beautiful Bill."

It's cruel. And if you don't believe me, look at the data.

Republicans, Donald Trump, look at the data. Look at what the American people think of this so-called "Big, Beautiful Bill."

Americans hate the Republican "Big, Ugly Bill."

Pew Research: 46% disapprove, 32% approve.

GSG/Navigator Research: 52% unfavorable, 33% favorable on the "Big, Ugly Bill."

CNN/SSRS : 61% oppose, 39% approve.

These are not marginal differences. Overwhelmingly just about every Democrat, two-thirds to three-quarters of Independents, and a large chunk of Republicans hate this bill. That's what the data shows.

So, the Republican problem is not difficult to understand. Why Leader Thune, Speaker Johnson, the White House, the Republican senators are squirming and on their back foot is not difficult to understand.

These numbers say it all. What they did is despised. The number one achievement that they're going home and they think they can brag about, people hate.

That's why they're not having town hall meetings. That's why when Republican senators and congressmembers go to their town hall meetings they get booed - not because people are mean, but because people are struggling to deal with the consequences of the "Big, Beautiful Bill."

The American people know Donald Trump is dead wrong.

That is why his popularity has declined significantly. Republicans can't magic talk their way out of this "Big, Ugly Bill" because the real-life impacts back home are inescapable and are devastating.

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