Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a press conference with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer where they urged House Republicans to use their second chance to do the right thing and stop the GOP Tax Scam.  

LEADER JEFFRIES: It’s an honor and a privilege to be joined today by Leader Chuck Schumer. We’ve been working closely with Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats in a unified way to stop the Republican One Big, Ugly Bill from ever becoming law. Later on today on the House Floor, Republicans will have an opportunity to stop the GOP Tax Scam and address the concerns that have been raised by dozens of House Republicans with respect to the damage that the One Big, Ugly Bill will do to everyday Americans. The GOP Tax Scam represents the largest assault on healthcare in American history. More than 16 million Americans will lose access to healthcare in the United States of America as a result of the One Big, Ugly Bill. Hospitals will close, nursing homes will shut down and people will die because they’ll lose access to the medical care that they need. Tens of millions of additional Americans will pay higher premiums, co-pays and deductibles.

There are more than a dozen House Republicans who have indicated that they don’t support cutting Medicaid for the people that they represent. Those House Republicans have a chance to stop this bill from even being sent over to the United States Senate by voting no on the rule today. Other House Republicans have indicated that they don’t support the cuts to the clean energy tax credits that have generated jobs and economic opportunity in their communities. Yet somehow, mysteriously, they voted for the One Big, Ugly Bill a few weeks ago. But now, these House Republicans have the ability to stop the GOP Tax Scam from being sent over to the United States Senate.

It’s strange to me that you have Republicans who voted for a bill that they apparently disliked, and then publicly sent a letter to their Senate Republican colleagues to say, stop these provisions from ever becoming law. I mean, that’s the height of irresponsibility. Vote yes and then hope for the best. No, you have a job to do in the House of Representatives, and now you have a second chance to actually stop this One Big, Ugly Bill and the provisions that you disagree with, whether that’s the cuts to Medicaid or the cuts to clean energy tax credits, or the prohibition against regulating artificial intelligence across all 50 states or the aggressive overreach that many Republicans have complained about in terms of trying to strip away the ability of federal courts to issue contempt orders against an out-of-control executive branch. Every single one of those Republicans, dozens of them, now have an opportunity to actually act responsibly. Vote no against the rule that will be on the Floor of the House and stop the GOP Tax Scam from even going over to the United States Senate. I’m thankful again for the leadership and presence of Chuck Schumer. It’s now my honor to yield to him.

Full press conference can be watched here.

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