[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 15, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S1810]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TRUMPCARE

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, first, on the Republican healthcare bill, 
my good friend the Republican leader says that there should be 
amendments on the floor. On such an important matter, it would be 
astounding if we didn't have committee hearings and committee votes on 
such a bill. I know there is an attempt to rush it through, but if it 
is such a fine product, it ought to withstand the scrutiny of hearings 
and of markups in the various committees. To rush it through is an 
indication that the sponsors of the bill, the supporters of the bill, 
are not very proud of it, and that is a theme that has continued with 
the executive branch and the Speaker of the House.
  As we know, CBO estimated that it would cause 24 million fewer 
Americans to have health insurance--I don't hear the Republican leader 
mention that, of course--while raising premiums in the short term and 
jacking up the price of healthcare for older Americans.
  We have heard from the other side of the aisle that access is what is 
important. No, it isn't. Access doesn't get you healthcare. I have 
access to walk into a Lamborghini dealer and look at a Lamborghini, but 
I can't afford one. That is true of average Americans, and that is true 
of healthcare as well. Access doesn't get you healthcare, and it is a 
far cry from what people need.
  Because the bill helps so many fewer Americans, because the bill 
seems to be a tax break for the wealthy above all, it is having its 
trouble, and nobody seems to really want to embrace it. That is why 
Republicans on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue don't want their name 
near any end of the bill.
  As I said yesterday, Speaker Ryan doesn't want to call it RyanCare, 
even though he wrote the bill. President Trump doesn't want to call it 
TrumpCare. If it is so good, why doesn't any Republican want to put 
their name on it? It is Abbott and Costello: You put your name on it; 
no, you put your name on it. That is not an indication that people are 
proud of this legislation, and it is particularly ironic with President 
Trump. President Trump slaps his name on buildings, ties, steaks, 
hotels, and golf clubs, but not on a bill that he supports in his daily 
tweets. He has spent 30 years of his business career trying to put his 
name on nearly everything, but not this healthcare bill, even though he 
is inviting wary Republicans to the White House to try and sell them on 
it.
  Today his Vice President is here on the Hill lobbying recalcitrant 
Republicans. He has dispatched HHS Secretary Price, the person he 
picked, to lobby for the bill. His own Press Secretary says the White 
House is in full sale mode. Make no mistake about it, this is the 
President's bill, and he should be straight with the American people 
about it. We call it TrumpCare. That is what it is.

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