During a rally to "Save Our Healthcare" in Washington, D.C., Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tore into the Trump Administration and Elon Musk's cuts to federal agencies, and hammered Congressional Republicans' funding proposals.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you. Well, thank you all. Thank you. Thank you all. No, no, no, no, no. It is not Bernie. If there is ever a time in American history where it's not one person, but millions of people, this is that time.
00:27Not me. It's you. It's all of us. All right. All of you, I'm sure I've heard you understand what the cuts to Medicaid are about. If you cut $880 billion from Medicaid, that means millions of children in this country will lose the health care that they have, including some of the most vulnerable kids in our nation.
00:55What it means at a time when two out of three people in nursing homes get supported by Medicaid, and when nursing homes are already in desperate shape, it means that your mom, your dad may not be able to get into a nursing home or may be forced to leave a nursing home.
01:19I have worked very hard for a number of years on expanding community health centers. 32 million Americans, including one out of three in my state of Vermont, use community health centers for primary health care.
01:38Forty percent of the revenue for community health centers comes from Medicaid. Cut Medicaid, they are going to shut down or not be able to provide the quality primary care that the American people need.
01:55But I want you all to understand that all of this is taking place in a health care system that is already broken.
02:06Our job is not just to oppose these horrendous cuts to Medicaid, it's to fight to do what every other major country does, understand health care is a human right, health care for all.
02:24So we look forward to working with you to pass a Medicare for all piece of legislation.
02:36But what we have all got to appreciate is what we're looking at right now is not just devastating cuts to Medicaid, we're looking at devastating cuts to nutrition programs.
02:53In the richest country on earth, millions of our kids go hungry, are not getting the nutrition that they need. But it's not just Medicaid, it is not just nutrition.
03:07Right now, they are cutting away the Social Security Administration. Social Security is already understaffed, they are not responding to the calls that people make.
03:25They want to devastate that program so that when people call they get nothing. Last year, 30,000 people died who are on disability because they couldn't get their benefits on time.
03:39If Musk and Trump are successful, tens of thousands more will die.
03:46But it's not just Social Security and Medicaid and nutrition, it's the Veterans Administration.
03:53These are the people who put their lives on the line to defend this country. They want to fire 80,000 employees at the VA.
04:05Now I don't care, I don't care what your politics may be, but all over this country, people are sick and tired of seeing the richest guy on earth decimate the federal government and programs that working class people decimated.
04:27Our job in every way that we can is to stop Trumpism and to fight for an agenda that works for all Americans, not just the billionaire class.
04:42So brothers and sisters, this is a pivotal moment in American history. We're in it right now, and I've been all over the country, and I believe that no matter what people's politics are, conservative, progressive, independent, Democrat, Republican, people do not want to see Elon Musk running the United States government.
05:04So let us stand together, let's oppose Trumpism, let's fight for a government and an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1%. Thank you all.