[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 151 (Tuesday, September 19, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5840-S5841]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Healthcare

  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, it feels like Groundhog Day again 
because, once more, we are seeing Republican leadership in the Senate 
advancing another bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act and to make 
radical cuts to the Medicaid Program.
  As with previous efforts, this new bill--they call it Graham-Cassidy, 
but it really is TrumpCare 3.0, the third version, and it is strictly 
partisan legislation, crafted in secret outside of regular order, 
without hearings or consultation with most Senators or stakeholders. 
But here is what is different: This bill is even more reckless and more 
destructive than previous bills to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
  It would take away healthcare coverage from an estimated 30 million 
Americans. It would effectively end protections for people with 
preexisting conditions by allowing insurers to charge exorbitant rates. 
It would make profound cuts to the Medicaid Program, which is a 
lifeline for 33 million children, 10 million people with disabilities, 
and 6 million seniors in nursing homes. It would be a tragic setback in 
the fight against the opioid epidemic because it would end access to 
lifesaving treatment for an estimated 1.3 million people with substance 
use disorders. In New Hampshire, where we are at the epicenter of the 
heroin and opioid epidemic, it would have a huge and tragic impact.
  President Trump said that the previous Republican bill to repeal the 
Affordable Care Act was ``mean,'' and make no mistake, this bill is far 
worse. As I have said repeatedly, the only constructive way forward is 
for Democrats and Republicans to come together in a good-faith, 
bipartisan effort to repair and strengthen the current law.
  As Senator McCain said to this Chamber in July: ``Let's return to 
regular order. We've been spinning our wheels on too many important 
issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from 
the other side.''
  When Senator McCain said that, we gave him a standing ovation on the 
floor of this Chamber. In the weeks since the vote on the last attempt 
to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Senate has actually been acting 
on his advice. We have been working under the leadership of Senators 
Alexander and Murray, the chair and ranking member of the Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, on bipartisan legislation to 
restore certainty to the health insurance markets, to fix problems with 
the Affordable Care Act that we all acknowledge. This effort includes a 
version of legislation that I have been working on to make regular 
appropriations for cost-sharing reduction payments. Those are payments 
that keep copays and deductibles affordable for low- and middle-income 
Americans.
  I have participated, as have so many Senators, in the bipartisan 
meetings they have held with Governors, providers, stakeholders, 
insurers, and State insurance commissioners to craft a positive way 
forward. It is very disappointing that we are here today with another 
attempt to blow up all of these bipartisan efforts by bringing to the 
floor yet another divisive, partisan bill.
  To understand why people are upset and fearful about this latest 
attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I would call our attention 
to the many positive impacts the Affordable Care Act has had across the 
country--and in my home State of New Hampshire--and the consequences of 
repealing that law.
  Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more than 49,000 Granite Staters 
have been able to get health insurance coverage through the 
marketplace. Thanks to the Medicaid expansion, more than 11,000 people 
in New Hampshire have gotten lifesaving treatments. The Medicaid 
expansion, which has been a bipartisan effort between then-Democratic 
Governor Maggie Hassan and a Republican legislature, has been a 
critical tool in our fight against the opioid epidemic, and hundreds of 
thousands of Granite Staters with preexisting conditions at one time or 
another no longer face discrimination by health insurance companies. In 
one fell swoop, this Graham-Cassidy TrumpCare legislation would put all 
of these gains in jeopardy.

[[Page S5841]]

  I would appeal to my colleagues in the Senate to stop and reconsider 
what is going on. Listen to the stories. Look at the faces of everyday 
Americans whose lives would be devastated by this legislation--from 
children, to seniors, to veterans.
  Several months ago on Facebook and other social media platforms, I 
asked people across New Hampshire to tell me their stories--stories 
about how the Affordable Care Act has made a lifesaving difference or 
has improved their lives and the well-being of their families. I was 
overwhelmed by the response.
  Here in Washington, some seem to think that repealing the Affordable 
Care Act, no matter how destructive the consequences, is just about 
politics; it is about notching a win for their team. But for the people 
in New Hampshire and across the country, repealing the Affordable Care 
Act and slashing Medicaid isn't about politics. It is about life and 
death. It is about people being cut off from vital, lifesaving 
treatment for substance use disorders. It is about families losing 
affordable health coverage, about seniors being unable to pay for 
nursing home care, and about millions of vulnerable people with 
preexisting conditions who would effectively be denied health coverage. 
It is about returning to the pre-ACA days when simply being a woman was 
considered a preexisting condition, justifying much higher rates.
  I urge Republican leaders to stop this latest effort of destructive 
partisanship. There should be no retreat from the progress we have made 
in recent years, including the progress against the opioid epidemic. I 
encourage Senators who support this ill-conceived legislation to listen 
to the Governors, listen to the insurance commissioners, listen to 
patient and provider groups, and, most importantly, listen to their 
constituents.
  Let's fix what is not working about the Affordable Care Act, and 
let's not pass legislation to take healthcare away from people. Let's 
support bipartisan efforts now under way in the Senate to stabilize the 
marketplaces and to provide access to quality, affordable healthcare 
for every American.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KING. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. KING. Mr. President, over the past several weeks, there have been 
real discussions--bipartisan discussions about fixing the problems in 
the Affordable Care Act, about controlling the growth of premiums, 
about being sure that there is some certainty in the market to prevent 
the collapse of the individual market, which, by the way, will not only 
affect people who are participating in the Affordable Care Act 
exchanges but will affect all those in the individual market, and we 
could stop that.
  The Senate HELP Committee had 4 days of hearings, roundtables, 
coffees with other Senators to talk about what the problems are, what 
we can do to solve them, and we were making some real progress. Then, 
all of a sudden, up comes TrumpCare 4.0 or 5.0--I have lost track--
another bill to essentially repeal and not replace the Affordable Care 
Act.
  On July 21, 1861, there was an occurrence at the beginning of the 
American Civil War. It was the First Battle of Bull Run. The Union 
troops were routed that day, and there was a disorganized retreat back 
to Washington. That has been known historically as the Great Skedaddle, 
and that is exactly what is happening again today. This is the great 
healthcare skedaddle because what the Senate majority is doing is 
avoiding responsibility.
  You don't want to be discriminated against because of preexisting 
conditions? Well, that is not our decision. We are passing it on to the 
Governor. The Governor can make that decision; it is not we who are 
doing it.
  You don't want to have the bands for the differential between young 
people and old people changed so that elderly people pay twice, three 
times, four times, five times as much as young people for health 
insurance? You don't want responsibility for that? Fine. Pass this bill 
and give it to the Governor.
  That is what we are talking about--a copout. It is the Senate 
majority once again trying to jam down the throats of the American 
people a change they don't want. They don't want it.
  Everywhere I went in Maine in July and August after our vote back at 
the end of July, people said thank you. They said thank you, and they 
said to tell Susan Collins thank you for the vote to preserve our 
healthcare. Yet here we are, back at it again.
  I think we need to understand what this bill does. Essentially, it 
does two things. It shifts all the responsibility for the healthcare 
provisions for the most vulnerable Americans entirely to the States, 
with very little in the way of guardrails or protection, and it gives 
them less money in order to provide that kind of healthcare. That is 
called shift and shaft. Shift the responsibility, and shaft the people 
who have to try to meet that responsibility.
  I have been a Governor. What we are talking about here is cutting off 
the support and the dollars that are needed to meet those 
responsibilities. Everyone says: Well, this is all flexibility. We are 
providing flexibility--flexibility to make agonizing decisions between 
providing healthcare to seniors or to children, to people who are 
disabled or to people who are just trying to get on their feet and go 
to work without the specter of a healthcare disaster hanging over them.
  I suspect we will have more to say about this next week, but it is a 
travesty.
  I understand there is going to be a little hearing on Monday. I call 
it a figleaf hearing. There is going to be a hearing. We don't know who 
is going to be there. We don't know exactly what the testimony is going 
to be. It is going to be a hearing so people can say, yes, we had a 
hearing.

  Well, come on. This is not a responsible way to legislate, and the 
people of this country expect more of us. I hope both parties--both 
parties--will recognize the folly of what is being proposed here and 
say no. Then, let's go back to talking, on a bipartisan basis, and fix 
the problems with the American healthcare system which certainly need 
to be addressed.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Johnson). Under the previous order, there 
will now be 2 minutes of debate, equally divided between the two 
parties.
  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to yield back all 
time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  All time is yielded back.