A Pennsylvania Democrat confronted president Donald Trump's treasury secretary over the tax cuts he'll benefit from in the Republican budget bill.
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent testified Thursday before the House Budget Committee, where Rep. Brendan Boyle questioned him about the GOP funding bill's priorities.
"It is smart spending that, what are we spending for?" Bessent said, and as he started to ask another rhetorical question Boyle cut him off.
"Tax cuts that mostly go to billionaires such as yourself," Boyle said, "while throwing 16 million people off their health care coverage? The reality is I can see why you would have that opinion. You as a billionaire will reap the rewards of this tax cut, while 16 million Americans will lose their health coverage."
"That is the sad reality of the situation," Boyle added.
Boyle appeared a short time later on MSNBC's "Ana Cabrera Reports," where he explained the figures he cited during the confrontation.
"I just want to briefly explain where that 16 million figure comes from," he said. "That also comes from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, who are essentially the official referees or scorekeepers for all legislation. That comes because almost 11 million Americans will lose their health care, who are currently on Medicaid, due to the Republican cuts in this bill, and an additional about 5 million Americans will lose their health care who are currently covered through the Affordable Care Act."
"So these are devastating cuts," he added. "Never before in American history have we seen an event that would cause 16 million Americans to lose their healthcare coverage. Now I can tell you that House Democrats stood 100 percent united, all of us voted no on the Republican bill for the reasons I've mentioned, as well as others. I do think the vote is going to be very close in the Senate. I hear that the bill is going to change, which means it would, in a new form, require yet another House vote, and that gives us another opportunity to attempt to stop this very bad bill from becoming law."
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