ICYMI: On Senate Floor, Senator Warren Calls On Republicans to Look Sick Kids in the Eyes As They Vote to Rip Health Care Away From 17 Million Americans
Warren: “I actually don’t think my Republican colleagues have lost their hearts. I think they have lost their spines.”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) delivered remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate, calling out her Republican colleagues for trying to pass their “Big Beautiful Bill,” which will rip health care away from 17 million Americans, slash food assistance, and raise costs for families.
Remarks from Senator Elizabeth Warren
As prepared for delivery
June 29, 2025
On Friday, I met Vivian. Vivian is an 11-year-old kid from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She likes school. She likes her friends. She likes reading Harry Potter. She’s a lot like any other 11-year-old. But for Vivi, going to school and being with her friends depends on Medicaid because Medicaid covers the costs for her wheelchair, her therapists, and her health aide.
Right now, Republicans are trying to rip away health care from kids like Vivian. The cruelty is breathtaking. I ask for one Republican senator who plans to vote for this bill to look into Vivi’s eyes and tell her that her health care isn’t a priority in this country. Mitch McConnell said to Republican senators that he knew they were getting calls about Medicaid, but not to worry about people losing their care, because he said “they will get over it.”
I ask Republicans to look at Vivi and at Vivi’s sisters and her mom and dad and say if Vivi loses her Medicaid and her wheelchair and her therapists and her health aide that she will “get over it.”
Because here’s the deal: Vivi won’t get over it. Her family won’t get over it. The people of North Carolina won’t get over it. None of us—Massachusetts, Idaho, Arizona—none of us will get over it.
The cruelty is off the charts, but the part that really burns is that the Republicans are trying to slash the health care that keeps kids like Vivi alive so they can hand out more tax cuts for billionaires. It’s beyond cruel. It’s obscene.
I’m angry. And we should all be angry. Because instead of playing at the pool or the park like a regular kid on summer break, Vivian had to come here to Washington to ask senators not to cut her health care. In a country as rich as ours, that shouldn’t even be a question.
I actually don’t think my Republican colleagues have lost their hearts. I think they have lost their spines. It seems that all they can do now is bow down to Donald Trump and his billionaire donors. They will bow down even if it means hurting families, community hospitals, and nursing homes in their own states. Trump wants the Republicans in Congress to hand out giant checks to the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations, and they are willing to do that, even if it means kicking Vivi to the curb.
Republicans know what they’re doing. They know this bill will hurt people. They know this bill will kill people. And though it’s hard to believe, they just look the other way.
But on behalf of Vivi — and the millions of other kids, mommas, seniors, and families who rely on the life-saving care that Medicaid makes possible — my Republican colleagues should grow a spine and stop this awful bill in its tracks.
If it wasn’t bad enough that this bill is set to rip away health care from 17 million Americans to pay for tax giveaways for billionaires, it has a bunch of other filthy giveaways buried in it, too.
Who wins if Republicans pass this ugly bill? Billionaires, Wall Street, Big Tech, Big Oil. The wealthiest Americans and giant corporations.
Big Oil will get a special “get out of paying your taxes” card while millions of people lose their health care coverage. Billions of dollars for Big Oil; nothing but pain for Vivi.
Meta – who’s really struggling — will win $15 billion to “incentivize” them to do research in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Meta gets $15 billion simply for existing while families lose their health care.
Wall Street wins big with a provision Republicans squeezed in that would slash funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Giant corporations want the opportunity to cheat American families again – so Republicans are trying desperately to take the cop off the beat.
And who loses thanks to this ugly bill? Americans who can’t afford health care. Families who need a little extra help putting food on the table. Grandmas and grandpas in nursing homes. Little babies and their mommas.
If Republicans pass this bill, 17 million Americans would have their health care ripped away. That number has kept growing as Republicans make more changes to the bill. For them, it’s a question of how many MORE Americans they can rip away health care from.
This bill would make the biggest cut to food assistance for families, kids, and veterans in history.
One in four nursing homes would have to shut down. My Republican colleagues should call a few seniors in nursing homes in their states and go over the plans for where they go next. Maybe call the daughter of someone in one of those nursing homes and explain how she has to become a full-time caregiver tomorrow. Maybe call a few of the people whose lives you plan to tear apart.
Budgets are about our values, and Republicans have made their values clear — they are willing to throw millions of Americans under the bus so they can help out a handful of their billionaire buddies and giant corporations. They should be ashamed.
Here’s what Democrats believe: no baby should go hungry so that Mark Zuckerberg can buy another Hawaiian island.
No person with a disability who needs a wheelchair or a home health aide to live independently should have to give that up so that Jeff Bezos can buy a third yacht.
No grandma should be pushed out of her nursing home so that Elon Musk can take a subsidized rocket ship ride to Mars.
And it doesn’t have to be this way. What if, instead of tax breaks for billionaires, we make the rich pay their fair share?
What if, instead of slashing health care for kids, we make it possible for every American to see a doctor when they’re sick without breaking the bank?
What if, instead of giving Big Oil more giant handouts, we make universal childcare a reality for families across this country?
We can tax the rich. If Jeff Bezos can afford to rent Venice for a $50 million wedding, he can afford to pitch in so the next kid has an opportunity to make it in America, too.
We can make life easier for working people — not harder. We can lower costs for families — not jack them up even more, like this bill does. We can put families first — not billionaires and billionaire corporations.
Democrats believe this. We will vote NO on this awful bill. And for kids like Vivian, for seniors in nursing homes, for families who rely on home health aides, and the millions more Americans that this bill will hurt, I urge my Republican colleagues to join us and vote NO.
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