Schumer Warns Trump Budget Bill's Medicaid Cuts Could Threaten GOP Senators: 'We Are All Going to Die Act'

Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, launched a scathing attack on President Donald Trump’s latest budget bill on Wednesday, rebranding the “big, beautiful bill” as the “We’re All Going to Die Act.” Schumer’s remarks came during a heated press conference where he criticized proposed cuts to Medicaid, warning that millions of Americans could lose life-saving health coverage if the legislation passes.

Schumer harshly rebuked Republican senators who have thrown their support behind Trump’s legislation, describing them as “tenured at best, suicidal at worst.” He argued that backing the package could have dire electoral consequences for GOP lawmakers. “For many Americans, health care coverage is the difference between life and death,” Schumer emphasized, pressing that the stakes for everyday citizens were higher than ever.

The Minority Leader’s nickname for the bill references a controversial comment from Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who, when confronted by constituents concerned that cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would endanger lives, retorted, “Well, we’re all going to die.” Schumer seized on the remark, declaring, “According to Ernst, ‘Fear not. We’re going to die anyway.’ Tell that, the American people have heard.” He pledged that Democrats would fight “to show Americans what's really at stake here,” predicting that public sentiment would turn sharply against the bill.

“The cuts are too deep. The cuts are too real. The cuts are too devastating for people,” Schumer warned, accusing the bill’s authors of cruelty in pursuit of tax breaks for billionaires. He said, “Why are they being so mean? Why are they being so cruel? And why are they being so politically tenured at best, suicidal at worst? All to give tax breaks to billionaires.” According to Schumer, the administration is catering to “a small group of very wealthy, greedy people who say, ‘I don’t care what you do to everyone else, cut my taxes.’”

Schumer cited new projections from the Congressional Budget Office, which estimate that if the bill is enacted, the number of people losing their health insurance could jump from 13.7 million to as many as 16 million. He added that “new calculations show Medicare is under the knife,” raising alarms about potential impacts on seniors and vulnerable populations.

While a handful of Republican senators have voiced concerns over the bill’s effect on the national debt and budget ceiling—potentially increasing the national debt by $5 trillion—Senate leadership continues to push for a vote before the July 4 deadline. The White House maintains that the proposed measures will spark “massive growth” for the economy, but Schumer was adamant: “Trump is just lying about the bill.”

He also criticized provisions that would make Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts permanent, dismissing Republican arguments that the changes would curb waste or fraud. “Bull, bull,” Schumer said bluntly, contending that the bill’s reality would be one of “harsh cuts where people lose health care, where people’s premiums go up, where hospitals close, nursing homes close, and people are laid off.”

With negotiations ongoing and pressure mounting in both parties, Schumer insisted that the outcome of this legislative battle could have far-reaching implications—not only for health care access, but also for the political future of those lawmakers deciding its fate.