[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 53 (Monday, March 27, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S1982]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               TrumpCare

  Mr. President, on another matter, the failure of TrumpCare this past 
Friday was a good day for the American people. We can finally put to 
bed the disaster of a bill that was TrumpCare, which would have 
resulted in spottier coverage, 24 million fewer Americans with health 
coverage, and higher costs, premiums, and deductibles for the middle 
class, the working poor, and older Americans, all to finance close to 
$600 billion in tax breaks for wealthy Americans. Americans should 
breathe a sigh of relief that TrumpCare will not become law. We are 
happy that it is gone. We can finally move on.
  As I have said many times, we Democrats, provided our Republican 
colleagues drop ``replace'' and stop undermining the ACA, are willing 
to work with our Republican friends to improve the existing law. No one 
ever said the Affordable Care Act was perfect. We have ideas to improve 
it; hopefully, our colleagues on the Republican side do as well. I hope 
once ``replace'' is dropped and the ACA is no longer undermined by the 
administration, we can sit down and talk about it.
  Unfortunately, the administration has already done several things 
that undermine the law and hurt the people. During the final weeks of 
open enrollment, the Trump administration discontinued the public 
advertising campaigns that encouraged people to sign up for insurance. 
The administration is working behind the scenes to give insurers 
flexibility to offer Americans less coverage for the healthcare they 
need, and the Executive order that President Trump issued directing 
agencies to facilitate the repeal and replacement of the ACA has 
destabilized the marketplace. Now that TrumpCare is off the table, the 
President should rescind the Executive order.
  Today, I am urging the President and his entire administration to 
immediately cease all efforts to undermine the ACA. People's lives are 
at stake.
  The President should not hope that the healthcare system for tens of 
millions explodes. He should not want premiums to go up on his watch. 
He should not hope that Americans lose treatment for opioid addiction 
on his watch. This approach is wrong, and wrong in two ways: First and 
foremost, it is wrong because it hurts people. The President must be a 
leader. It is not leadership for the President to hurt people and 
actively work to undermine our Nation's healthcare system simply 
because he is angry that he didn't get his way on repealing the ACA. 
That is not Presidential, that is petulance.
  Secondly, this approach will not work politically. Donald Trump is no 
longer an outsider; he is President. The American people are looking to 
him to help solve their problems. If he doesn't, it is going to hurt 
him and his party. Pointing the finger of blame isn't going to solve 
anyone's problems. That strategy is not only bad for the American 
people and beneath the Presidency, it will backfire politically. He is 
in charge. People want him to make their lives better, not make them 
worse because of some political anger or vendetta.
  I know many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle do care 
deeply about fixing the Nation's healthcare problems, and we are ready 
to do that with them in a bipartisan way. But, of course, repeal must 
be taken off the table, and the President must stop hurting citizens by 
undermining the Affordable Care Act.