Video of Bennet’s Full Remarks Available HERE
Washington, D.C. — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet delivered a speech on the Senate floor in the middle of the night condemning Republicans’ budget reconciliation package, which will increase the national debt by more than $3.3 trillion over the next ten years.
“Many young people today can’t afford to live on their own, and they may never be able to afford a house,” said Bennet. “They can’t afford health care or child care. They can’t count on a quality education for their children in too many parts of America, some are really worried about whether they’re going to be able to afford a child at all. If you haven’t heard a family say that to you in your town halls or in your meetings, you haven’t been paying attention.
“But instead of addressing any of these challenges, we are debating a bill tonight that will make the wealthiest Americans even wealthier and the poorest Americans, even poorer, half a million of whom live in Colorado, while adding millions more to the debt, which working Americans are going to have to pay back. That’s what this Republican trickle-down economics comes down to, no matter how you dress it up. That’s what it comes down to.
“Our generation has made some very bad choices when it comes to our children’s future. This bill only makes matters worse for them, and all this debt will constrain the choices that they are going to be able to make for themselves, and that’s a shame, Madam President, because unlike us, perhaps they will aspire to following in the footsteps of the greatest generation to build a country where lifespans are growing, not falling, where economic mobility is rising, where poverty and economic anxiety are falling, where energy exports are increasing and emissions are decreasing, where quality health care and child care, education and affordable housing are abundant, not scarce.
“It seems obvious to me, Madam President, that our child’s ambition should be ours as well. Unfortunately, tomorrow, the Republican majority may pass a bill that takes us further in the wrong direction. In its wake and in its wreckage, Americans who do feel an obligation to the next generation are going to have to fight even harder to fulfill our duty.”
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