On Friday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) delivered remarks on the Senate floor about the proposed budget resolution and President Trump's cuts to federal programs.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. President. Senator from Massachusetts. Thank you, Mr. President, and I want to
00:05say thank you to the Senator from Oregon. I am grateful for your leadership in
00:10making sure that America understands exactly what the Republicans are up to
00:15and how they've just got one central mission and that is cut services for
00:21everybody else, cut all the things that ordinary folks depend on so that they
00:26can deliver tax cuts for a handful of billionaires. It is obscene and I
00:31appreciate how you point it out. I am here because co-presidents Donald Trump
00:38and Elon Musk are taking a chainsaw to our federal government, hurting families
00:43in Massachusetts and all across the country. You know, it's almost like they
00:48drew up a list of every program that families rely on, everything that's
00:55valuable to families, and then went through the list and said, let's cut that,
01:00let's cut that, let's cut that. And why to pay for tax cuts for billionaires?
01:06Thanks to Donald Trump and Elon Musk, Grandma will have to drive hours if she
01:13has a problem with her Social Security check and needs someone to help her
01:16straighten it out. Why? Because Trump and Musk are closing the Social Security
01:23office in her neighborhood. And while they're at it, make it even harder by
01:28shutting down the phone lines. Thanks to Trump and Musk, the after-school program
01:34that gives kids a safe place to be after classes are over and before mom and dad
01:40get home from work, they want to cut those programs. Same with the aides that
01:47sit in classrooms with kids who need a little extra help learning how to read.
01:53Thanks to Trump and Musk, critical medical research came to a screeching
01:59halt. Research that could help save lives and find cures for awful diseases.
02:06Musk and Trump say that these cuts are about efficiency. That is a lie.
02:13Let's be clear. Trump and Musk are creating this sandstorm of chaos while
02:21they make these cuts because they want to distract us from what is really going
02:26on. They want to grease the skids for giant tax giveaways for their
02:32billionaire buddies and pay for it on the backs of working people. And now,
02:39today, Republicans in Congress are putting forward a proposal to deliver
02:44these tax cuts for the wealthy and well-connected, and they are asking us to
02:50vote on it tonight. This bill and Trump and Musk's cruel agenda isn't good for
02:57Massachusetts, and it isn't good for our country. I'm hearing from families at
03:03home in Massachusetts who are feeling the pain right now. Start with medical
03:08research. Medical research powers our economy in Massachusetts, and it is the
03:14reason that we have had incredible breakthroughs like vaccines and cancer
03:20drugs that save lives. So how did Donald Trump and Elon Musk thank the doctors
03:27and the researchers who are doing this work? By canceling tens of millions of
03:33dollars in federal funds that support medical research at Massachusetts
03:38hospitals, universities, and health care providers on everything from clinical
03:44trials to pandemic readiness. And they did it just weeks after Trump tried to
03:51cut the funding that keeps the lights on at our community health centers. So to
03:57anyone, anyone who believes in science and believes in investing in cures for
04:03horrible diseases, now is the time to fight back. And that's why I'm filing
04:08amendments to the Republican bill to keep federal support for Massachusetts
04:14medical research institutions and health care providers, including our community
04:20health centers. And it's why I'm filing another amendment to fight back against
04:25Trump and Musk's National Institute of Health funding cuts, because we are a
04:31country that believes that we should invest in finding a cure for Alzheimer's,
04:37for diabetes, for cancer, and for other diseases. And on education, education
04:44levels the playing field. It gives every kid a fighting chance. Doesn't matter to
04:50Trump and Musk, just this week they slashed millions of dollars in funding
04:56for K-12 education in our Commonwealth, shut down a regional office in Boston
05:02that helps administer Head Start, canceled millions of dollars in funding
05:07that was helping pay for kids' school lunches. To them, that was the cherry on
05:13top of Trump's executive order to, quote, abolish the entire Department of
05:20Education, throwing schools all across this country into chaos. So to students,
05:27to parents, to teachers, now is the time to fight back. We are fighting for an
05:33America where it's not just the kids of billionaires who get a good education,
05:38but every kid in every community all across our Commonwealth. It's why I've
05:45got an amendment to the Republican bill to protect education funding in
05:50Massachusetts and to protect services like Head Start that lift up our kids
05:56and make sure that we are not leaving families hanging out to dry. And I'm
06:02fighting for our workers. Last week, Donald Trump signed an illegal executive
06:08order attacking federal unions and stripping workers of their rights. It is
06:14the definition of union busting, and it is an attack on the workers who make
06:20sure that our food is safe to eat, who make sure that it is safe for us to fly
06:25in airplanes, who make sure that we take care of our veterans, who try to help us
06:31and protect us from viruses and diseases and so much more. So to workers in
06:38Massachusetts and all across America, now is the time to fight back. We need to
06:45amend this Republican tax cut bill to affirm federal workers' right to
06:51unionize and to collectively bargain because the labor movement is bigger
06:56than Donald Trump and his unelected billionaire co-president. And we believe
07:03that every worker deserves the freedom to join a union and to negotiate for a
07:09fair contract. Donald Trump and Elon Musk are sawing through the programs that
07:16help working families breathe a little easier every day. And they're doing it so
07:22that their billionaire buddies and giant corporations get trillions of dollars in
07:29tax giveaways paid for on the backs of everyone else. So here's the big question.
07:36Are we going to hand our country over to co-presidents Donald Trump and Elon Musk
07:43and a handful of other billionaires and make everyone else pay for it? Or are we
07:49going to be a country that says, no, we want to make these investments so that
07:54everyone in this country gets an opportunity? Everybody's at least got a
08:00chance to build something for themselves. That is the fight in front of us and
08:06that is the fight I am fighting every single day for people in Massachusetts
08:11and all across this country. Our public schools are the foundation of our future.
08:21But Donald Trump and Elon Musk are trying to end public education as we
08:26know it. Trump fired one out of every two federal
08:31education workers and then the next day the application for federal
08:38financial aid for millions of students went down. Then he signed an executive
08:44order to abolish the Department of Education. So he fires the workers at the
08:50Department of Education, the federal financial aid for millions of students
08:55goes down, and then he just tries to end the entire Department of Education.
09:01States are already ringing the alarm bell that funding for little kids school
09:06lunches is at risk. Kids with disabilities could lose their classroom
09:11aid. High schoolers who are already panicked enough about college are now
09:16even less sure about what their future looks like. My very first job was as a
09:24public school teacher for kids with special needs. I've seen with my own eyes
09:30what the Department of Education does for families. So this week I launched a
09:36campaign to save our schools and to bring everyone into the fight for our
09:42public schools. One of the best ways to fight back on behalf of our schools is
09:49to share stories about what matters to us in this country. We know the power of
09:56telling stories and the power of organizing people and bringing them into
10:01this fight. So I asked people all across this country to share a story about a
10:07public school teacher who made a real difference in their lives. In the first 24
10:14hours after I put out that call, we got a flood of messages from people in
10:20communities all across this country who just wanted a chance to tell a story
10:26about a teacher who made a difference in their lives. So I want to read some of
10:31those into the congressional record here. Quote, I am visually impaired. My
10:38high school teacher consultant defended my rights in the classroom. I was able to
10:44graduate and am now on my way to a master of public policy at Georgetown
10:51because of him. That's how teachers make a difference.
10:55Another, Mrs. Butler, fourth grade, born Massachusetts, 1996, had us bring in
11:03newspaper stories, taught us chess. She spoke to us like we were little adults
11:09and treated us with respect. Someone who remembers that many, many years later.
11:16Mrs. J, I went to high school in Wisconsin and she was my AP psychology
11:23teacher. She made me feel special and I found out later I wasn't the only one.
11:29I bumped into her years later and she inspired me to go on to grad school. I
11:35didn't even know a master's in higher ed was a thing without her. Teachers making
11:42a difference, not just in the classroom, but years and years later. School was
11:48better than home. A teacher made sure I applied for college. I went, I graduated.
11:54Again, changing lives. My daughter was born with disabilities. She was told she
12:02was powerful. She has an MBA. Pretty impressive. I was a struggling student.
12:09One teacher always paid attention and helped me after school. My high school
12:16culinary arts teacher played a pivotal part in my life, which has led to a
12:22lucrative career. My son's music teacher went out of her way to create a spot in
12:28school band for him to play his electric guitar. Now he is an accomplished
12:34musician who loves to play music. The ways in which teachers change our lives.
12:40My fifth grade teacher taught us to knit, which allowed us kids with different
12:46learning needs to thrive. Exclamation point. Someone who is grateful to this
12:52day. My husband works for a high school in Alabama and teaches teens coping
12:58skills. It has prevented suicides. Truly, truly the importance of what our
13:05teachers do. I was raised by a single parent who didn't go to college and with
13:11the expectation that, due to cost, college would not be possible for me. One of my
13:18teachers repeatedly told me I was smart and capable and that I should go to
13:23college and then helped me apply. Now I have a PhD in materials chemistry and
13:31work at a defense lab. A reminder, teachers don't just contribute to the
13:37lives of their students, they contribute to the growth in the future of our
13:41entire nation. My high school Spanish teacher inspired me to be brave and
13:48explore the world outside my small rural town. Good for you. Here's one. I was
13:57bullied a lot as a kid. My sixth grade teacher finally caught my bullies to
14:03leave me alone. There's something life-changing for a sixth grader. My
14:08eighth grade social studies teacher, Mrs. Gifford, made me want to be a social
14:15studies teacher too. I was a struggling student. One teacher always paid
14:21attention and helped me after school. High school Spanish teacher inspired me
14:28to be brave and explore the world outside my town. Had a public school
14:35system not worked for my child, she wouldn't be where she is today. My
14:41American Studies teacher enthusiasm inspired my love of politics and history.
14:48Here's one from a teacher. I'm a public school teacher for deaf and hard of
14:54hearing students. I became one because I had an individualized education program
15:01or IEP. I continue to be inspired by Mrs. Baumler who showed me what project-based
15:09learning and collaborative education can be. My daughter's kindergarten teacher
15:16seeks grants on her own time to help her kids adjust. Mrs. Snyder is the only
15:23person who told me I could have a career in the arts. Mrs. Tolel, my sewing
15:30teacher, she was very kind to me at a moment in my life. We remember those
15:37moments. Both my kids have been in special education. One has a PhD. The
15:44other is in law school. I have my own story. Nobody in my family went to
15:52college. It was a second grade teacher, Mrs. Lee, who scooped me up and whispered
16:00in my ear that I was special and that I could be a public school teacher. And at
16:07that moment, my entire life changed. For all the rest of my growing up years,
16:13whenever someone asked me anything about my future or what I was interested in, I
16:20would stand a little taller and say, I'm going to be a teacher. It guided my
16:26entire life. I am grateful to have an opportunity to say thank you to Mrs. Lee.
16:35The federal government has invested in our public schools in keeping class
16:41sizes smaller, in making sure that teachers' aids for the kids who need
16:46extra help are there, and in after-school programs so that working parents can
16:52know that their kids are in a safe place where they can do their homework or have
16:57some fun. Taking that away from our kids so that a handful of billionaires can
17:05scoop up some tax giveaways and be even richer is just plain ugly. And I will
17:15fight it with everything I've got.
17:21Next, I want to talk for a minute about Social Security. Right now, Donald Trump
17:29and his unelected billionaire co-president Elon Musk are trying to rip
17:35away Social Security benefits from millions of Americans. You know, two
17:40people who do not have a clue about how important Social Security checks are and
17:46what they mean to families, two people who just don't understand that at all,
17:51are Elon Musk and Donald Trump. And that's why they are willing to attack
17:57Social Security so that they can pay for tax cuts for a handful of billionaires.
18:04Now, let's be clear. Social Security is not charity. It is not some giveaway, not
18:12something that a few rich people hand out coins to old folks. Social Security
18:18is a program that people pay for all of their working lives. 73 million Americans
18:26depend on Social Security, and they paid for those Social Security benefits. Out
18:33of every paycheck, they were putting money into the Social Security system on
18:39the sacred promise that when the time came that they were no longer working,
18:44they would be able to count on Social Security for food, for a roof over their
18:50heads, for some real financial security. Elon Musk and Donald Trump are breaking
18:57that sacred promise, and they are breaking it so that billionaires can get
19:04a tax break. Now, here's the thing. Elon Musk and Donald Trump know that they
19:10can't just go in and reduce Social Security benefits. They'd like to.
19:14Remember, Elon Musk is the guy who called Social Security a Ponzi scheme. He's a guy
19:20who has said, look, you know, we're gonna get this done. We need to cut Social
19:25Security. The problem is Elon Musk didn't establish Social Security. The
19:31problem is Donald Trump didn't establish Social Security. No, it was Congress that
19:37passed the laws that created Social Security, and it is Congress and only
19:43Congress that can cut those Social Security benefits. So you would think
19:48Elon Musk and Donald Trump, I mean, shoot, Republicans are in the majority right
19:54here in the Senate, over in the House of Representatives. If they really want to
19:57cut Social Security, then do it out in the open and introduce a bill. Have your
20:03Republican buddies introduce a bill to cut Social Security benefits, and let's
20:08see where that goes. But no, they know that cuts to Social Security are deeply
20:15unpopular, deeply unpopular. They know that people who answer to the voters are
20:22very hesitant to do that. So what have they figured out? A backdoor way to come
20:28in and cut Social Security. And how do they do that? They just make it harder
20:33and harder and harder to get the Social Security benefits that people paid for
20:39year after year after year. Make it harder to correct an error. Make it
20:45harder to apply. Make it harder to get any help if your check doesn't arrive.
20:52And all of that has the effect, just a little over time, of cutting more and
20:58more people out of the system, fewer and fewer people who get what they paid for.
21:04How do they do that? Well, they shut down the phone system. So you got a problem
21:09and you try to call and get it straightened out? Nope.
21:13Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to just shut that down so that's not available.
21:19They're closing Social Security offices. So instead of being able to go to the
21:24office near your home, you may have to drive an hour or two hours or three
21:29hours to get to a Social Security office. And what if, in your 60s, in your 70s, in
21:35your 80s, in your 90s, you're not able to drive? You can't get to that office? Well,
21:40either you give up or you find somebody who will be able to take you there. But
21:45even after you get there, you can't get the problem solved because there aren't
21:50enough people. We're already hearing about lines that are 50 people long, that
21:55it takes four and five hours to make your way through a line, which is a
21:59pretty tough burden on many of our seniors. If the Social Security office
22:06closes before you can actually get to the front of the line, too bad. See if you
22:11can get a ride and come back another day. So what will that mean? Some people won't
22:17start their benefits when they're legally entitled to do it. Some people
22:21won't get problems corrected. Some will just give up without getting what they
22:26are legally entitled to. Another way to cut Social Security benefits and cut
22:31them and cut them, and again, why do that? Why impose that kind of misery on people
22:38around this country? Only so that Elon Musk and Donald Trump can pay for tax
22:47giveaways to a handful of billionaires and billionaire corporations. This is
22:53fundamentally wrong. We need to get our priorities straight. We need to honor our
23:00sacred promises under Social Security, and we need to tell those billionaires
23:05and billionaire corporations they can pay their fair share to make this
23:10country work. That's the fight that we are having on the floor of the Senate
23:15today, and that is the fight between Republicans and Democrats right now in
23:21Washington. I know which side I stand on, and I see which side the Republicans
23:26stand on. This is ultimately what our entire debate is about right now, and
23:34that is, who does this government work for? Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their
23:40Republican enablers here in the United States Senate are making that clear
23:45through their budget. You want to understand somebody's values? Take a look
23:51at their budget, and that is true for the budget of the United States of America.
23:56Because Republicans are in the majority, they're the ones who put the budget
24:00forward, and that's what we're debating today. It is a budget that is about tax
24:07cuts for the wealthiest Americans, and the price tag for these tax cuts keeps
24:15going up, because instead of being embarrassed about the cuts to Social
24:20Security, instead of being embarrassed about the cuts to medical research,
24:24instead of being embarrassed about the cuts to public education, Republicans are
24:30in the business now of doubling down and doubling down again. The first version of
24:36this budget that they put out would have given away about 4.7 trillion dollars, an
24:45amazing amount of money that would have been soaked up mostly by millionaires,
24:49billionaires, and giant corporations. And then, next round, the price went to 5
24:56trillion dollars. As of this morning, the best independent estimates of the costs
25:03of the Republican plan is 7 trillion dollars in giveaways, paid for by our
25:13public school kids, paid for by our seniors who need health care, paid for by
25:20people who rely on Social Security, paid for by cutting medical research, paid for
25:27by our Veterans Administration, paid for out of the backs of the work that is
25:34done for families all across this country. This is a moment in American
25:42history. When it's put in front of us in the starkest terms, who do you think
25:48government should work for? And the Republicans, with their budget, have made
25:53clear they think government should work even better for a handful of billionaires
26:02and billionaire corporations. And when they worry about the costs, they say, we
26:07know how we can fix the cost problem. We'll just cut the funding that goes to
26:14public education. We'll just cut the funding that goes to medical research.
26:18We'll just cut the funding that goes to the Veterans Administration that helps
26:24our vets. We'll cut the funding that Americans rely on all across this
26:31country. That's where we are right now. And Democrats are fighting back. Look, we
26:38don't have the votes. I get that. Democrats only have 47 in the Senate,
26:43Democrats plus independents. Republicans have the majority of votes. But what we
26:50have is people across this country who are saying, that's not what I
26:56want. That's not what I voted for. I don't want to see our country do giant tax
27:02giveaways for billionaires. I want to see our country continue to support public
27:08education. I want to see our country continue to invest in medical research.
27:14In fact, a lot of people around this country think we ought to be doing more
27:17of that. Let's put more investments in. Alzheimer's, for example. We're getting
27:22closer and closer to a cure, or at least a treatment. If we don't find that
27:27treatment, we're going to be spending billions more down the line to take care
27:33of people who have fallen prey to the ravages of Alzheimer's. Let's invest in
27:39research now. It saves families a lot of heartache and, frankly, saves us a lot of
27:46money. But not Donald Trump and Elon Musk and the Republicans. They say, nope, let's
27:52just cut that research, those research dollars, in half. And if that means
27:55ending clinical trial programs, they don't care. Not their problem. They're
28:00doing just fine. Cut those programs. It is bad for our families and it is bad for
28:07our economy. But Trump, Musk, and the Republicans basically just don't care.
28:15Same kind of problem on public education. You know, I love Save Our
28:21Schools that we launched just a little over a day ago. And the stories have
28:27flooded in of people of all ages, people from all different parts of the country.
28:33People have all different kinds of jobs right now who say, oh, yes, I remember that
28:40teacher. I remember my second grade teacher who changed my life. I remember
28:45that sixth grade teacher who taught me how to deal with the bullies. I remember
28:50the high school teacher who told me I really could do something more and
28:56encouraged me along. The parents who wrote in and said they had children with
29:01real challenges. And it was a public school teacher who stepped up and helped
29:08move them forward. We focus on the teachers here, but it's the whole group
29:13that has committed their lives to our public education system. It's the bus
29:19drivers. It's the folks who work in the cafeteria. It's the people who order the
29:24supplies to keep it all going. And they all do it because they believe in
29:28investing in our future. They believe in an America that we build. An America that
29:35gives every kid a fighting chance. Now, I started out as a public school
29:42teacher with kids who had special needs. I really saw firsthand what it
29:50means to believe in the worth of every child and to invest in those children so
29:57that every child can do his or her best so that children have an opportunity to
30:04grow, to learn, to live independently. All of that is the commitment of our
30:10public schools and our public school educators. Everybody is a part of that
30:16team because they believe in our kids and believe that this is how we build a
30:21future. No nation builds a great future by shortchanging its children. That has
30:30been a core part of our American values for a long, long time. And now Donald
30:37Trump and Elon Musk come along with a chainsaw and say, we're just going to lop
30:41those programs off. We're just going to cut them off. Already tried to fire half
30:46of all the people who work at the Department of Education and then decided
30:51that wasn't enough. So they turned around and said, let's just shut the whole
30:57Department of Education down. And it's already having an impact on people.
31:02Schools are scrambling to figure out what their budgets will look like. Who
31:07are they going to have to lay off? Class sizes are likely to get bigger. That
31:12hurts every one of our kids. The kids with special needs who need an aide
31:16sitting beside them, they're likely to have to go away. Can't do that work
31:21anymore. The whole notion as a nation that we care more about a handful of
31:30billionaires getting, listen to those numbers again, seven trillion dollars in
31:37tax giveaways from the Republicans, while we just starve or completely eliminate
31:44the programs to support public schools all across this country. Budgets are our
31:52values. And the values of Donald Trump and Elon Musk and the Republicans that
31:58are reflected in this budget, billionaires over our kids, those are the
32:04wrong values. Those are not America's values. And now is the time to fight back.
32:12It's a hard time right now. I understand that it feels like we're in a sandstorm.
32:18That there's something every single day. We've got new tariffs announced
32:23yesterday that make no sense at all. Stock market is plunging, renaming the
32:29Gulf of Mexico, invading Greenland. There is so, so much going on. But understand
32:37this, there really is direction here. And that's what's happening right now between
32:44Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Republicans in the United States Senate. And that is
32:49while all this noise and swirl and speculation is going on, very quietly try
32:57to tiptoe into the United States Senate and offer seven trillion dollars in tax
33:06giveaways, mostly to folks like Elon Musk and his fellow billionaires. Offer them
33:15all the money and then tell our school kids, tell our seniors, tell everyone else
33:23in America that you have to pay for it because the billionaires are the special
33:29people in this country. They're the ones who are catered to here in the United
33:36States Senate. Well, I get it. That's what Trump wants. That's what Musk wants.
33:42That's evidently what the Republicans in the Senate want. It is not what
33:47Democrats want. We are fighting back. We believe that billionaires and billionaire
33:53corporations ought to pay their fair share. They ought to pay taxes and we
34:02ought to use some of that money to invest in medical research, to invest in
34:08our public schools, to invest in expanding Social Security, to invest in
34:15the Department of Veterans Affairs so that we are honoring our promises to our
34:20vets. This is about who the government works for. Trump, Musk and the Republicans
34:27want a government that works even better for billionaires. Democrats are
34:32fighting for a government that works better for everyone else. Mr. President, I
34:39yield the floor.