[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 49 (Tuesday, March 21, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1859-S1860]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRUMPCARE
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, the Republicans plan to repeal and
replace the Affordable Care Act. Their bill is such a mess and is
proving so deeply unpopular that Republicans are playing a game of hot
potato with it. Speaker Ryan does not want to call it RyanCare. The
administration does not want to call it TrumpCare. They are pointing at
each other and hoping the other one takes responsibility and blame.
President Trump, who has tried to put his name on nearly everything
in his career--ties, steaks, water--does not want his name on this
bill. Well, the President himself is here on the Hill today to sell the
bill to House Republicans. Make no mistake, this is TrumpCare, the
President's bill. Every American should know that if Republicans
ultimately pass this bill, President Trump is behind it, and
Republicans will have helped him every step of the way.
So voters, particularly Trump supporters, who would be hurt most by
this TrumpCare should remember that when your premiums start going up,
President Trump did that. When your insurance does not cover all the
things it used to, President Trump did that. If you are older and
insurance companies are now charging you exorbitant premiums, several
times what you used to pay, President Trump did that. When 24 million
fewer Americans have health insurance while the wealthiest Americans
get a huge tax break, you can be sure President Trump did that too.
Even now, the changes House Republicans are making to buy off
different factions of their caucus are making the bill more harsh. Some
of these changes will further weaken Medicaid and result in even fewer
Americans with healthcare coverage. Though Republicans claim they are
fixing the bill's unfair tax on older Americans, they are not. The
truth is, the Republican age tax is still in the bill. People in their
fifties and sixties still stand to lose big time.
The larger truth is, Republicans are not trying to make this bill
better. They are just trying to make it pass with all their various
factions pulling them in different directions. There is no better
evidence of that than the new ``Senate slush fund,'' a $75 billion
earmark the House is giving the Senate to buy off Republican Senators
who don't want to vote for this bill.
What happened to our fiscal conservative friends in the House--no
unnecessary expenditures. A $75 billion slush fund. It doesn't even say
what it does. Wow. Unbelievable. Many Republican Senators don't want to
vote on the House bill because it is going to crush older Americans
with a new age tax, but make no mistake about it, the Senate slush fund
is not going to fix that problem at all.
Here is the biggest problem. The consequences of TrumpCare are so bad
for working Americans and older Americans that my friend the majority
leader may rush it through the Chamber after we get it from the House.
He has already said TrumpCare is going to bypass committees and go
right to the floor. There is even talk that Republican Senators, under
his leadership, are negotiating a substitute bill behind closed doors
that would take its place and also go straight to the floor.
That is not how we should do business here on something as important
as healthcare. That is not just my view, that is the majority leader's
view. Listen to what the distinguished majority leader--then-minority
leader--said
[[Page S1860]]
about healthcare reform in 2009, when the Affordable Care Act was being
debated. He said--these are Mitch McConnell's words:
We shouldn't try to do it in the dark. And whatever final
bill is produced should be available to the American public
and to Members of the Senate for enough time to come to grips
with it. There should be and must be a CBO score.
Let me repeat that. ``There should be and must be a CBO score.'' I
would ask our leader, are we going to have one before he rushes this
bill to the floor? I hope so. ``We are going to insist,'' he said,
``that it be done in a transparent and fair and open way.''
Well, the majority leader delights in pointing out instances when
Democrats seemed to go back on something they said. So I certainly hope
he follows his own advice from 2009 now that he is majority leader. We
hope to see a published bill, with Senators given time to review, and a
CBO score before anything moves forward--a fair, open, and transparent
process, as he said.
I know why he wants to move so quickly. The majority leader knows how
bad the bill actually is. In fact, the consequences of TrumpCare are so
bad that Republicans are talking about other phases of the plan,
promising a second and third prong that will somehow make this bill
better for American people down the road. They say to their colleagues:
Well, this bill is bad, but we will change it in the second and third
prongs.
Well, that is a diversion. If Republicans can't live with this bill,
they should shelve it because those other prongs are either not going
to happen or will make it worse.
I can speak with some authority on the third prong. It is going to
require 60 votes. That is what will be needed for the Republican
legislation to make more changes to our healthcare system--60 votes,
which means at least 8 Democratic votes.
I warn my Republican colleagues: Once you repeal ACA in this
fashion--just ripping it out, having nothing good to put in its place--
our healthcare system is going to be too messed up to resuscitate it
with piecemeal legislation down the road. Even my Republican friends,
Senators on the other side of the aisle, said as much. My friend, the
junior Senator from Texas, Senator Cruz, said: ``Anything placed in so-
called bucket three won't pass.'' You are right, Ted. If we want to
pass real reforms, we have to do it now and on budget reconciliation.
Senator Cruz is right again.
My friend, the junior Senator from Arkansas, Senator Cotton, freely
admits that ``there is no three-phase process. There is no three-phase
plan. That is just political talk. It's just politicians engaging in
spin.'' Senator Cotton, I couldn't have said it better myself.
All Republicans in the House and Senate should hear this: Democrats
will not help Republicans repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act--
in one phase, two phases, or three phases. This TrumpCare bill would
cause such immense damage to our country, its citizens, average working
families who are going to be paying more and getting less, we are not
going to be complicit. But we will work with our Republican colleagues
to improve the existing law.
If the President and the majority leader say ``All right, we are not
going to repeal; let's work on some changes,'' we will do it with them.
Of course we will listen. But they have to drop repeal first.
Again, I urge my friends on the other side of the aisle to drop their
repeal efforts, drop TrumpCare--non-negotiated, not a drop of
bipartisanship in it--and come negotiate with Democrats on improvements
to the Affordable Care Act. Turn back before it is too late--too late
for the American people who will be hurt and too late for all of you
who will also be hurt as you try to defend TrumpCare in the next few
years.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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