Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) gave a new name to the “big, beautiful bill” on Wednesday, calling it the “Well, We’re All Going to Die Act.”
Schumer appeared at a press conference alongside Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and stood next to a sign that read “Well, We’re All Going to Die Act,” a reference to previous comments from Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa.)
“The more you look at the bill, at the House bill, the worse it gets,” Schumer said during the press conference.
The New York Democrat added later that “this bill is just tax breaks for the ultra wealthy, paid for by gutting health care for up to 16 million Americans.”
During a recent town hall in Butler, Iowa, Ernst defended spending reforms included in the “big, beautiful bill” passed by the House, including those that would stop people from getting federal benefits if they’ve entered the country illegally.
A person in the crowd attempted to talk over the senator, interrupting her while she was answering questions about changes to Medicaid and SNAP and shouting that people are “going to die” as a result.
“Well, we’re all going to die,” Ernst responded, drawing jeers.
Ernst later doubled down on her comments on social media, saying in a Saturday Instagram post that she “made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we are all going to perish from this Earth.”
The Hill has reached out to Ernst’s office for comment.
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