[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 38 (Monday, March 6, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S1591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, finally, on the Affordable Care Act. My 
Republican friends have repeated the mantra for 7 years, ``Repeal and 
replace, repeal and replace.'' It turns out, during those 7 years, they 
never came up with a coherent plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. 
It was all slogans, no policy.
  Now they are scrambling to come up with something. The problem is, 
every draft, every leaked detail or outline or list of principles we 
have seen is tied together by one common thread: It will raise costs on 
average Americans and cut back on their benefits. Average Americans, 
under the Republican plan, will pay more and get less.
  No wonder they are hiding the plan somewhere in a basement room, even 
as they are scheduling markups on the bill for a week from now. They 
don't want the folks to see it until the very last minute; just rush it 
through. I don't blame them. It is going to be very hard for 
Republicans to be proud of this plan, which hurts average Americans, 
raising their costs and taking away benefits.
  It is the absolute height of hypocrisy to be hiding this plan. My 
Republican colleagues complained bitterly, day after day, week after 
week, month after month, about not having enough time to read the 
Affordable Care Act when it was being debated. At the time, my friend, 
the distinguished majority leader, said:

       Americans want us to slow down, and Congress is putting its 
     foot on the accelerator. Americans want to know what this 
     bill would mean for them, and Congress won't let them read it 
     before a vote . . . [on a] piece of legislation that will 
     affect one of the most significant aspects of their lives. 
     Americans [he continued] have concerns about what they're 
     hearing, and they are being told to shut up, sit down, and 
     take the health care we give you.

  By keeping their replacement bill under lock and key, only a week 
before potentially voting on it, the Republicans are engaging in 
enormous hypocrisy--exactly what the majority leader complained about 
only a few years ago. Their mantra in past years was always ``read the 
bill.'' Now they will not even let us glance at it. Why are they hiding 
it? I think I know why. They are not very proud of it. They know it is 
not going to work.
  They are being pushed blindly forward by their ideologues and their 
incessant campaign promises. The American people ought to know how 
Republicans plan to drastically reshape this Nation's health care 
policy. I suspect Americans will not like it much. I suspect it will 
raise costs and cut benefits. I suspect far fewer Americans will get 
coverage. I suspect their plan will put the insurance companies back in 
charge.
  Whatever it does or doesn't do, the American people and their 
representatives in Congress, after 7 long years of slogans, ought to 
know the true face of ``replace.''
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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