[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 79 (Monday, May 8, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2785-S2786]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Healthcare Legislation

  Mr. President, I would like to recognize two important votes that 
occurred last Thursday. First, let me commend the House for voting to 
move beyond the pain of ObamaCare. For years, the American people have 
suffered under this failed law. They watched their premiums soar. They 
watched their choices dwindle.
  Now they are watching as ObamaCare collapses all around them. More 
than half of our States have counties with only a single insurance 
option on the exchanges, and a growing number could have no options at 
all--like, as we saw reported just last week, in nearly every single 
county in Iowa. That means thousands more Americans could be left 
trapped, forced by law to purchase ObamaCare insurance but left without 
the means to do so. Does that sound like a law that is working to 
anyone?
  To those who would try to defend an indefensible status quo, I ask 
you to consider what Speaker Ryan said last week:

       [T]here is a fundamental and urgent choice at the heart of 
     this debate. We can continue with the status quo under 
     ObamaCare, and we know what that looks like. It means even 
     higher premiums, even fewer choices, even more insurance 
     companies pulling out, even more uncertainty, and even more 
     chaos.


[[Page S2786]]


  To those who suffered enough already, my message is this: We hear 
you. Congress is acting.
  I commend the House and the administration for making this important 
advance last week. Now the Senate will do its work. The administration 
will also continue doing its part to deliver relief and stabilize the 
healthcare markets as best it can. This process will not be quick or 
simple or easy, but it must be done. It is the least Members of both 
parties owe to the countless of Americans who continue to suffer under 
Obamacare, and the countless more who will be hurt if we don't act.