00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So I want to ask about the Republican big beautiful bill
00:06which will knock about 16 million people off their health care coverage and cut
00:11programs that keep groceries cheaper for millions of families in order to try to
00:16pay for about four trillion dollars in tax giveaways that are mostly going to
00:21be sucked up by millionaires, billionaires and wealthy corporations. So, Mr.
00:26Besson, Secretary Besson, I'd like to start with a very simple question. Will
00:31this bill increase or decrease the deficit?
00:37They're varying scoring on that, Senator Warren. You're the Secretary of the
00:43Treasury, so I'm asking you. What is your view? Will this bill increase or decrease
00:48the deficit? It is my view that over the ten-year window it will decrease. You
00:56know, do you have anybody who agrees with you on this? Yes, ma'am. Let me ask my
01:01question. Okay. Every credible independent expert agrees that Trump and the
01:09Republicans big beautiful bill would add trillions of dollars to the national debt
01:13and would not even come close to paying for itself. The nonpartisan Congressional
01:19Budget Office, the Penn Wharton Budget Model, and the Yale Budget Lab all agree on
01:25this, and they're looking at ten-year windows. Thank you. So, do the
01:29conservative tax foundation and committee for responsible federal budget, conservative
01:35groups, even Elon Musk and the Wall Street Journal are criticizing the bill for
01:41ballooning the national debt. The only people who are saying publicly that it's
01:48not going to add to the national debt are you, Donald Trump, the Republicans in
01:54Congress. Do you have an independent group that has put forward numbers that
01:59disagrees with all of these conservative groups and disagrees with the Wall Street
02:03Journal on this? Well, Senator, interesting to see you aligned with Elon Musk, but if I add-
02:12you're no more shocked than I am. If we want to take the full congressional
02:21budget scoring, they predict, and I don't agree with their methodology, they
02:27predict a $2.4 trillion deficit, but- Okay, so the answer to the question is yes. No, no, but may I finish?
02:34They include, but they've also scored $2.8 trillion in tariff income. So, even in
02:42Washington, D.C. math, that is a $400 billion surplus. Okay, so let me make sure I
02:48understand. This bill, you admit, will increase the deficit by $2.4 trillion, but
02:55you think there will be another bill and another set of agreements that somehow
03:00materialize, haven't materialized so far, don't have any statutory authority, but
03:05that will make up the difference. So, the answer to the original question, will this
03:09bill increase or decrease the deficit? I think you just said it will increase, this
03:15bill increases the deficit, is that right? No, I want to use all the CBO scoring and you
03:21can't take one without the other. I don't agree with the CBO. One is the law that we are scoring,
03:27the bill that is in front of us. We don't have a tariff bill in front of us to score.
03:32Mr. Secretary, let me go on to the second question. You have said that government
03:36spending is, quote, out of control. You have also called government spending,
03:41quote, unsustainable. In fact, in the name of physical responsibility, you're working
03:46with the Republicans on this big beautiful bill to pass the biggest cuts to
03:51Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act in American history. So, Mr. Secretary, help me
03:57understand here. Why is the national debt so very important that you're trying to
04:03kick 16 million people off their health insurance, but increasing the national
04:09debt doesn't seem to matter if you're cutting taxes for billionaires and
04:13billionaire corporations? Well, first of all, a huge portion of this goes to family
04:21owned businesses that are passed through entities that are below that level,
04:25Senator, and I am sure you share my goals of Main Street prosperity. You know, I'm glad to do
04:31tax cuts for people of modest means. The question I'm asking is, why does the
04:37deficit not matter to you, we're talking about knocking 16 million people off their
04:41health care, but it matters not, it does matter to you for knocking people off their
04:46health care, but not? Well, first of all, that figure is overstated by 5.1 million. That is
04:51amount not attributable to provisions in this bill. So you think it's okay to just deny 10 million people off their health care?
04:57Well, first of all, let's set that straight. Work requirements account for 8 million of CBO's claim number. Again, we're creating an economy that promotes and rewards.
05:08So it's clear, Secretary Besson, that you don't want to answer the question. No, no, no. Senator, I am answering it. No, you're not. And what I want is for Medicaid to be used for mothers and children, as it was meant, not for 1.4 million, it
05:21illegal aliens, not for able-bodied people. Medicaid is not used for people who are not documented. Mr. Chairman, I just want to say here, the part that troubles me the most is that the Secretary is deeply worried about the deficit and is willing to knock 16 million, he says, merely 11 million people off their health care. Matters so much. But it doesn't matter so much if you're cutting taxes for billionaires, then it's okay to run up a big deficit.
05:51I think that's wrong. We do have some differences of opinion. However, we also have a time crunch. I'm going to ask the remaining...
