Chris Van Hollen: “it was just a few weeks ago on this Senate floor that our Republican colleagues, on a straight party-line vote, cut…”

“it was just a few weeks ago on this Senate floor that our Republican colleagues, on a straight party-line vote, cut millions and millions of dollars--billions of dollars from investments in healthcare, like Medicaid. As a result, millions and millions of Americans are going to lose access to healthcare. And for what? All for a giant tax giveaway that disproportionately benefits the very wealthiest in America. They called it the Big Beautiful Bill. It was beautiful if you are a billionaire. For everybody else, it came at your expense in one form or another. Now here today on the floor of the Senate, we have Republicans bringing a partisan bill once again--this time to cut $9 billion in important investments, including from public radio and public television and, as my colleague Senator Murphy just indicated, from very important foreign assistance programs that are essential to American diplomacy and ultimately to American power and interests around the world. This is not 'America First'; this is 'America in retreat' or President Trump surrendering. To add insult to injury, these cuts are coming after Republicans in this very body and the House of Representatives passed and President Trump signed into law provisions that included the very programs we are talking about cutting today.”