00:00 hello everybody uh as I am sure you have
00:03 heard there is a lot that's going on
00:05 here in Washington DC so let me say a
00:08 few words and try to explain it bottom
00:12 line after all is said and done is that
00:15 after months of negotiations Senate
00:18 Democrats and House Republicans reached
00:20 an agreement called A continuing
00:22 resolution which would continue to fund
00:25 the government for 3 months frankly that
00:28 agreement was not something that I was
00:31 all that excited about but it was better
00:33 than nothing and I was prepared and am
00:36 prepared to vote for it and one of the
00:39 reasons is that it contained a
00:43 reasonable increase in funding for
00:45 Primary Health Care are something that I
00:48 feel very strongly about and that my
00:50 committee the health education labor and
00:52 pension committee is responsible for and
00:56 given the enormous crisis that we're
00:58 facing in healthcare in this country
01:00 today it really would be of help to many
01:02 millions of Americans what this
01:05 legislation would do is
01:07 significantly or modestly at least
01:10 increase funding for community health
01:12 centers all over this country uh which
01:14 treat about 30 million Americans who are
01:17 lowincome or working class uh and it
01:20 would also increase the number of young
01:22 doctors uh who go out into Rural America
01:25 and also into underserved areas that is
01:28 where we need the doctors and the nurses
01:31 and that's what this legislation would
01:32 do in any case within the House of
01:37 Representatives the Republican house and
01:39 the Democratic Senate there was
01:41 widespread agreement on this resolution
01:45 and it was just about ready to be passed
01:49 in fact the Republicans posted it on
01:52 their website we were ready to go but
01:55 then out of nowhere the wealthiest man
01:59 in the World Elon Musk began tweeting
02:03 his opposition to this legislation in
02:06 fact he was very blunt about it he told
02:10 Republicans that if they voted for this
02:14 proposal which they had already agreed
02:17 to do he would take out his wallet and
02:22 spend as much money as it took to defeat
02:25 them in primaries and drive them out of
02:28 office you got that
02:30 take a deep breath and appreciate what's
02:32 going on here the wealthiest person in
02:35 the world who spent at least 277 million
02:40 to elect Donald Trump in a republican
02:42 Congress has now claimed complete
02:46 ownership of that
02:49 party and what he saying is hey
02:51 Republicans forget your constituents
02:54 forget your constitutional
02:57 responsibilities if you don't do what I
03:01 Elon Musk want you to do you're out of
03:04 office and I have the money to do just
03:08 that my friends what we are looking at
03:12 here has nothing to do with
03:15 democracy what we are looking at here is
03:18 allegar key this is up and up government
03:22 by the billionaire class for the
03:26 billionaire
03:27 class and by the way musk is not only
03:32 trying to intimidate
03:33 Republicans he is trying to inject
03:36 himself into the Democratic party as
03:39 well he is threatening to Target
03:42 Democrats who are standing up to him and
03:46 his
03:47 agenda further and very dangerously and
03:51 this is the guy you know who owns
03:55 Twitter as part of his campaign to
03:58 defeat this res resolution musk has been
04:02 spreading an enormous amount of
04:04 disinformation and outright lies about
04:08 what is in the
04:09 bill he said that the measure would
04:11 include a 40% pay raise for congress
04:15 that's a lie it is a 3.9% increase the
04:20 same as federal employees are receiving
04:23 he said that this legislation would fund
04:26 bioweapons Labs not true in fact in fact
04:30 it provides funds to protect Americans
04:32 from emerging infectious
04:35 diseases he said that the country would
04:37 be just fine if the government shut down
04:42 really here's what happens if Mr musk
04:45 gets his way and the deal
04:47 implodes funding for kids cancer
04:50 research gets cut at a time when we
04:54 already paying the highest prices in the
04:56 world for prescription
04:57 drugs Pharmaceutical iCal
05:00 middlemen will be able to continue to
05:04 overcharge you for your
05:07 prescriptions Americans recovering from
05:09 devastating floods fires and hurricanes
05:12 often due to climate change won't get
05:15 the help that they
05:16 need that's what happens if the proposal
05:19 go down and what happens if the
05:20 government shuts
05:22 down well our troops won't get their
05:27 paychecks nearly 7 million women and
05:30 children who rely on Wick nutrition
05:32 assistants could go hungry and 2 million
05:36 federal government workers some of whom
05:38 don't make a whole lot of money won't be
05:41 getting
05:42 paid now let us be very clear Elon Musk
05:47 was not elected to be president of the
05:50 United States in fact he was not elected
05:54 to be Dog
05:56 Catcher And by the way what all of this
05:59 hoopla is really about above and beyond
06:02 everything I'm talking about is that
06:04 when Trump and musk come into power in
06:07 late January do you know what their
06:09 first order of business will be you
06:11 think it'll be to fixed Healthcare you
06:13 think it'll be deal with climate change
06:14 deal with homelesses well if you thought
06:17 that you did wrong his first their first
06:19 order of business will be to provide
06:23 massive tax breaks for the wealthiest
06:26 people in this country and the largest
06:29 corporation so think about it at a time
06:31 of
06:33 unprecedented income and wealth
06:35 inequality when musk
06:37 himself is worth almost half a trillion
06:41 dollars what these guys want to do is
06:44 give more tax breaks to
06:47 billionaires uh and uh the heads of
06:51 large
06:52 corporations so where do we go from here
06:56 uh let us understand the gravity of what
06:59 we dealing with this is not Politics as
07:01 us usual this is not just Democrats
07:04 versus Republicans conservatives versus
07:07 liberals or progressives it's much
07:08 deeper than that what we are dealing
07:11 with right now is that the billionaire
07:14 class which owns so much of our economy
07:17 which owns so much of our media they are
07:20 now moving aggressively to own our
07:22 political system as well so we got a lot
07:25 of work in front of us we've got to
07:28 educate we've got to organize and we
07:31 have got to stop them thank you very
07:34 much have a great holiday season
Hello everybody, uh, as I am sure you have heard, there is a lot that's going on here in Washington DC. So let me say a few words and try to explain it. Bottom line, after all is said and done, is that after months of negotiations, Senate Democrats and House Republicans reached an agreement called a continuing resolution, which would continue to fund the government for 3 months.
Frankly, that agreement was not something that I was all that excited about, but it was better than nothing, and I was prepared and am prepared to vote for it. And one of the reasons is that it contained a reasonable increase in funding for Primary Health Care, something that I feel very strongly about, and that my committee, the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee, is responsible for.
Given the enormous crisis that we're facing in healthcare in this country today, it really would be of help to many millions of Americans. What this legislation would do is significantly, or modestly at least, increase funding for community health centers all over this country, uh, which treat about 30 million Americans who are low-income or working class. Uh, and it would also increase the number of young doctors, uh, who go out into Rural America and also into underserved areas, that is where we need the doctors and the nurses, and that's what this legislation would do.
In any case, within the House of Representatives, the Republican House and the Democratic Senate, there was widespread agreement on this resolution, and it was just about ready to be passed. In fact, the Republicans posted it on their website, we were ready to go. But then, out of nowhere, the wealthiest man in the World, Elon Musk, began tweeting his opposition to this legislation. In fact, he was very blunt about it, he told Republicans that if they voted for this proposal, which they had already agreed to do, he would take out his wallet and spend as much money as it took to defeat them in primaries and drive them out of office.
You got that? Take a deep breath and appreciate what's going on here. The wealthiest person in the world, who spent at least 277 million to elect Donald Trump in a Republican Congress, has now claimed complete ownership of that party. And what he's saying is, hey, Republicans, forget your constituents, forget your constitutional responsibilities, if you don't do what I, Elon Musk, want you to do, you're out of office, and I have the money to do just that.
My friends, what we are looking at here has nothing to do with democracy. What we are looking at here is oligarchy, this is up and up government by the billionaire class for the billionaire class. And by the way, Musk is not only trying to intimidate Republicans, he is trying to inject himself into the Democratic party as well. He is threatening to target Democrats who are standing up to him and his agenda, further and very dangerously.
And this is the guy, you know, who owns Twitter. As part of his campaign to defeat this resolution, Musk has been spreading an enormous amount of disinformation and outright lies about what is in the bill. He said that the measure would include a 40% pay raise for Congress, that's a lie, it is a 3.9% increase, the same as federal employees are receiving. He said that this legislation would fund bioweapons labs, not true, in fact, it provides funds to protect Americans from emerging infectious diseases.
He said that the country would be just fine if the government shut down, really. Here's what happens if Mr. Musk gets his way and the deal implodes: funding for kids' cancer research gets cut, at a time when we are already paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Pharmaceutical middlemen will be able to continue to overcharge you for your prescriptions. Americans recovering from devastating floods, fires, and hurricanes, often due to climate change, won't get the help that they need.
That's what happens if the proposal goes down, and what happens if the government shuts down? Well, our troops won't get their paychecks, nearly 7 million women and children who rely on WIC nutrition assistants could go hungry, and 2 million federal government workers, some of whom don't make a whole lot of money, won't be getting paid.
Now, let us be very clear, Elon Musk was not elected to be president of the United States, in fact, he was not elected to be dog catcher. And by the way, what all of this hoopla is really about, above and beyond everything I'm talking about, is that when Trump and Musk come into power in late January, do you know what their first order of business will be? You think it'll be to fix healthcare? You think it'll be to deal with climate change, deal with homelessness? Well, if you thought that, you did wrong.
Their first order of business will be to provide massive tax breaks for the wealthiest people in this country and the largest corporations. So think about it, at a time of unprecedented income and wealth inequality, when Musk himself is worth almost half a trillion dollars, what these guys want to do is give more tax breaks to billionaires and the heads of large corporations.
So, where do we go from here? Uh, let us understand the gravity of what we're dealing with. This is not politics as usual, this is not just Democrats versus Republicans, conservatives versus liberals or progressives. It's much deeper than that. What we are dealing with right now is that the billionaire class, which owns so much of our economy, which owns so much of our media, they are now moving aggressively to own our political system as well.
So, we've got a lot of work in front of us, we've got to educate, we've got to organize, and we have got to stop them. Thank you very much, have a great holiday season.