[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 118 (Thursday, July 13, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S3972]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Healthcare Legislation

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, today I wish to make some remarks paying 
tribute to a former staff member of mine for whom I have the highest 
opinion. However, before I begin those remarks, I should take a moment 
to address the elephant in the room.
  Mr. President, today the majority leader revealed a revised 
discussion draft for legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare. Let 
me say at the outset that this bill isn't perfect. There are some 
things in the bill that, given my preferences, I would do very 
differently. But one thing I have learned in my 40 years in this Senate 
is that people who demand purity and perfection when it comes to 
legislation usually end up disappointed and rarely accomplish anything 
productive. That is particularly true when we are talking about complex 
policy matters.
  The next vote on this legislation will presumably be whether to let 
the Senate proceed to the bill. Regardless of any of the positions of 
my colleagues on this particular draft, if they support the larger 
effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare, they should at the very least 
want to have a debate on this bill. Under the rules, we will have an 
open amendment process. Members will get a chance to make their 
preferences known and to have the Senate vote on them. Taking that 
opportunity is the very least we can do.
  Keep in mind, virtually every Republican in this body has supported 
the effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare more or less since the day 
it was signed into law. We have all made promises to our constituents 
along those lines. This legislation, while far from perfect, would 
fulfill the vast majority of those promises.
  If we pass up this opportunity, we are looking at further collapse of 
our health insurance markets, which means dramatically higher premiums 
and even fewer healthcare options for our constituents. Make no 
mistake, while some are talking about a bipartisan solution to prop up 
markets in the event this bill fails, there is no magic elixir or 
silver bullet that will make that an easy proposition.
  I have to think that at the end of the day, if we fail to take action 
to fulfill the promises we have all made, we will have to answer to the 
American people for the missed opportunity and the chaos that will 
almost certainly follow. I hope all of my colleagues will keep that in 
mind.