During a Wednesday Senate Banking Committee hearing, Senator Reverend Warnock highlighted that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will kick over 16 million Americans off their health care and raise health care premiums for over 20 million Americans, all while adding over $3 trillion to the debt.

Senator Warnock also used the hearing to spotlight the importance of giving tax cuts to working-class families instead of the ultra-wealthy

Senator Reverend Warnock during the hearing: “We ought to save the country trillions of dollars by not giving more tax breaks to the richest Americans, and if we try to work together, we can save our economy from this disaster and still protect working families from a tax hike”

Watch the Senator’s remarks at the Banking Committee hearing  HERE

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), a member of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, highlighted the potential financial dire economic consequences of the Washington Republican budget bill for working families. The so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act will kick over 16 million Americans off their health care and raise health care premiums for over 20 million Americans, all while adding over $3 trillion to the debt.

“We ought to save the country trillions of dollars by not giving more tax breaks to the richest Americans, and if we try to work together, we can save our economy from this disaster and still protect working families from a tax hike,” said Senator Reverend Warnock during the hearing. “I believe in tax cuts. I think working class Americans ought to give them, ought to ought to receive them, and we ought not be burdening our children with all of this debt.”

Senator Warnock also addressed that cutting Medicaid will not help pay back our debt of over $36 trillion because the tax cuts for the ultra wealthy will add to the deficit.

Senator Warnock has championed efforts to expand affordable health care access, including Medicaid, starting with his advocacy to close the health care coverage gap in Georgia. The Medicaid provisions within the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will cut $863 billion of federal funding for Medicaid, kicking 10.9 million Americans off the program. This bill will also raise premiums for 1.2 million Georgians.

“71% of the Medicaid recipients in Georgia are children, so we’re taking their health care, and then we’re saying to these children that you’ll have to deal with these trillions of dollars in debt one day, $4.2 trillion increase. Senate Republicans are trying to use a budget gimmick to claim the bill only cost a fraction of that by simply not counting things they don’t want to count,” Senator Warnock continued.

Senator Warnock has used his seat on the Banking Committee to uplift the struggles of ordinary people to the Administration’s most powerful leaders. Previously, during the March 8, 2023 Senate Banking Committee hearing, Senator Reverend Warnock pushed Fed Chair Powell to assist hardworking Georgians who are struggling to secure affordable housing. The cost of rent had skyrocketed and since 2019, Georgia renters had faced a 24% increase in median rents, the 6th highest rate in the country and far exceeding income growth over the same period.  

Watch video of the Senator’s full remarks HERE.

See below a full transcript of the exchanges between Senator Warnock and the Federal Reserve Chair:

Senator Reverend Warnock (SRW):  “Chair Powell, good to see you. The United States’ national debt currently exceeds $36 trillion. Last year, we paid nearly $1 trillion in interest on the debt alone. More than the federal government spent on educating and feeding our children. Chair Powell, how does the Fed consider rising national debt levels during discussions about adjusting interest rates?”

Jerome Powell (JP): “We really don’t. We take fiscal policy as completely exogenous, and we look at the data that’s coming in, but we don’t. We’re never going to take into account budget deficits and things like that.”

(SRW):  “Here is my concern. Maybe Congress should be thinking about it. The world is losing faith in America’s ability to repay our debt. We have seen a sell-off in the bond market. The United States dollar has lost more than 10% of its value against the euro and pound and is down against nearly every single major currency in the world. Back in May, Moody’s downgraded the US government’s credit rating because of growing debt and sinking confidence in lawmakers’ willingness to address this issue. Historically high debt pushes up interest rates, slowing economic growth and setting up a dangerous debt cycle where both interest rates and debt continue to rise. Chair Powell, how does the size and the trajectory of the national debt affect the Federal Reserve’s ability to manage inflation in good economic times and spur investment and hiring in slower economic times?”

(JP): “I’m happy to say that today, those things do not affect our ability to do our job. The concern really is that if we don’t do something, then there will come a time at which it will be a problem, not for us, but for the country. But at this time, it does not interfere in any way with our ability.”

(SRW):  “That is a realistic concern in the future, given the rate of increasing debt, and it’s something I’m concerned about, and maybe because it’s in the future, maybe that’s why you know, folks who have power, who sit in these jobs, aren’t as concerned about it as perhaps the Congress should be. I’m concerned about it as a father of a six-year-old and an eight-year-old. I’m concerned that my Republican colleagues are planning to ram forward a bill that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will increase the deficit by $4.2 trillion. So I want us to think about that, we’re taking food out of the mouths of hungry children. This bill could cut as many as 16 million Americans off of health care. We think about Medicaid, 71% of the Medicaid recipients in Georgia are children.”

“So we’re taking their health care, and then we’re saying to these children that you’ll have to deal with these trillions of dollars in debt. One day, $4.2 trillion increase. Senate Republicans are trying to use a budget gimmick to claim the bill only costs a fraction of that by simply not counting things they don’t want to count. If they don’t like the math, they just change the formula. But the markets and those investing in our country don’t care about these budget tricks, and I don’t think it will help my six-year-old and my eight-year-old when the bill comes due on this. They know the truth, and they will react based on the truth.”

“The big ugly bill will put the United States on a disastrous fiscal path, and it will be catastrophic for our economy. Even worse, the big ugly bill is cutting people off of their health care and for what purpose? To give tax cuts to the wealthiest. So this is an interesting moment for me, for someone who didn’t know I’d end up in politics, I just paid attention to politics over the years.”

“They’re getting ready to create a whole lot of pain for a lot of people, and the question is, for what purpose? To give billionaires a tax cut. I think we ought to work together to prioritize extending tax cuts for the working class, we shouldn’t be cutting their health care. We ought to save the country trillions of dollars by not giving more tax breaks to the richest Americans, and if we try to work together, we can save our economy from this disaster and still protect working families from a tax hike. I believe in tax cuts. I think working-class Americans ought to give them, ought to receive them, and we ought not be burdening our children with all of this debt. With that I yield. And the Chairman should take note that the Baptist preacher is done with three seconds left.”

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