[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 8, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1650-S1651]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TRUMPCARE

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, the House Republicans have finally 
unveiled their healthcare plan after nearly 8 years without a plan of 
their own.
  TrumpCare is finally public, and each hour that goes by brings a new 
set of concerns and new groups that oppose the bill, from all places 
along the ideological spectrum. Even a growing number of conservatives 
are expressing their distaste for the legislation.
  The fact of the matter is that TrumpCare is a mess. It will mean 
higher costs and less care for most Americans. When you look at the 
details, you can see that TrumpCare amounts to two separate systems of 
healthcare in America: cheaper healthcare for the rich, more expensive 
healthcare for everybody else.
  Under TrumpCare, if you make more than $250,000 a year, you will get 
a huge tax break. The average is $200,000 a year, because most people 
are way above that $250,000. If you are in the middle class, the cost 
will increase by $1,500 annually, and by 2020, over $2,000 a year.
  Let me repeat that. If you make over $250,000, your average tax break 
is $200,000. If you are in the middle class, your average increase in 
costs is $1,500 up. What kind of plan is that?
  Donald Trump has talked about helping working America. The plan he 
has embraced, TrumpCare, helps the rich and hurts the average American. 
That is not surprising given all the other things they are doing the 
same way. This administration continues--and healthcare is part of 
that--to talk like populists but act like those helping the wealthy 
special interests time after time.
  Let me repeat that. Under TrumpCare, if you make more than $250,000, 
you will get a tax break on average of $200,000 a year. If you are in 
the middle class, the cost will increase by about $1,500 annually, and 
after 2020, by $2,000 a year.
  TrumpCare is a healthcare handout for the wealthiest Americans and 
fake healthcare for everybody else. Under TrumpCare, if you are a 
member of the Trump Cabinet--stocked with billionaires--you are going 
to get a tax break, but if you are 60 years old, on the cusp of 
retirement but still waiting because you are not yet eligible for 
Medicare, TrumpCare would allow insurers to charge you more simply 
because of your age--discrimination against the elderly, against those 
50 to 65, who have worked so hard but don't yet have Medicare. That is 
wrong.
  If you are between 55 and 64, the total cost for you will increase 
$5,269 a year. Let me repeat that. If you are between 55 and 64, the 
total cost would increase by $5,269 a year. That is only the next 2 
years. By 2020, it goes up to $6,000 a year.
  For a working family, they can't afford that. What is this all about? 
They said it would be better care and cost less. It is worse care and 
it costs more.
  How about this? Under TrumpCare, a wealthy insurance executive making 
over $500,000 a year is allowed a tax break. If you are struggling to 
make it into the middle class with an income of 250 percent below the 
poverty line, your costs are going to go up by nearly $3,000 a year, 
and by 2020, $4,000 a year--once again, helping the wealthy special 
interests, in this case insurance executives, and hurting those 
struggling, climbing the ladder to get into the middle class.
  If you are a working mother and you get healthcare from Planned 
Parenthood, too bad, TrumpCare cuts all Federal funding for Planned 
Parenthood for a year.
  I am wearing my red tie today to honor the Day Without Women. 
Unfortunately, TrumpCare is the healthcare bill that forgot about 
women. Women are an essential part of our workforce in America. They 
ought to be able to go to the doctor or provider of their choice, even 
if that is Planned Parenthood.
  When you look at the fine print of this bill, it has jagged edges. 
TrumpCare shifts the costs and burdens from the wealthy to the poor, 
from the insurance executive to the middle-class family.
  The more Americans hear about this plan, the less they are going to 
like it. They were already against repeal before this plan came out. 
Can you imagine what is going to happen now as they read the details? I 
believe the Congressional Budget Office, when they score it, will 
ultimately show America everything America needs to know--how this bill 
would likely hurt overall coverage numbers and affordability and, at 
the same time, explode the deficit.
  You are getting worse healthcare and increasing the deficit. What 
kind of combination is that? No wonder the Republican leadership in the 
House is trying to rush through the bill even without a score. They 
don't want the American people to see it. I don't think they even want 
their own Members to have a chance to study it because it is a near 
certainty that this bill will cause millions to lose insurance as well 
as blow a gigantic hole in the Federal budget.
  In conclusion, it is reckless for Republicans to make Congress vote 
on this mess of a plan before we have those answers from CBO. Simply 
put, TrumpCare is a mess for the American people. We Democrats will 
fight it tooth and nail.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

[[Page S1651]]

  

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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