Merkley Statement on Senate Republicans Passing the “One Big, Beautiful Bill”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the following statement after Senate Republicans passed the Senate-version of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill.”

“Families lose; billionaires win. That’s the heart of the Republican budget bill. Over the last 27 hours as we voted, Senate Republicans had several opportunities to change course and amend this Big Beautiful Betrayal of a bill to actually help working families. At every opportunity, they chose to side with billionaires.

“Democrats – introducing amendment after amendment – fought to make this bill work for families and workers. We pushed for an amendment to make sure four million families wouldn’t lose access to food assistance. Republicans voted it down. Democrats introduced a measure to prevent 16 million families from being kicked off their health insurance. Republicans killed the amendment. Again and again, Democrats introduced amendments to support the middle class, and every time Republicans voted against them.

“Republicans are cheering as they pretend this bill will add very little to the national debt by using a budget gimmick that makes these tax cuts for the rich appear to cost far less than they actually do. In reality, this bill adds nearly $30 trillion to the national debt over the next 30 years – mortgaging the cost on future generations to ensure billionaires can pay less in taxes. This is budget fraud, and Republicans are being dishonest with the American people.

“This fight isn’t over, and the House should reject this bill outright and prevent it from ever becoming law. As Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, I will continue fighting back against Republicans’ mission to slash programs that help families thrive to fund massive tax breaks for billionaires.

“This bill is: families lose, and billionaires win. We can not let Republicans succeed in their Great Betrayal of working families,” said Ranking Member Jeff Merkley.

As Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, Merkley led an amendment to prohibit all federal government officials from promoting or offering cryptocurrency.

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