[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 177 (Wednesday, November 1, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6941-S6942]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Healthcare

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, since day one, the President of the 
United States has made it clear that his top priority, when it comes to 
healthcare in our country, is to score political points by attacking 
ObamaCare. He has even said repeatedly that healthcare in our country 
will ``implode,'' but this was not just a prediction that President 
Trump made, it was his goal, and he has tried virtually everything he 
can do to make that implosion a reality.
  In January, he abruptly pulled funding for outreach days before the 
end of the 2017 open enrollment period without any analysis of how that 
might affect patients and families, and he signed executive orders 
specifically designed to inject uncertainty and increased costs into 
the healthcare system.
  President Trump then dedicated the spring and summer to attempting to 
jam partisan, extraordinarily destructive legislation through the House 
and Senate to repeal the Affordable Care Act, despite one independent 
analysis after another showing that each version of TrumpCare would 
cause premiums to spike, take coverage away from millions of people, 
rip protections away from patients with preexisting conditions, and gut 
Medicaid.
  This fall--after TrumpCare failed another time in the Senate--he 
slashed by 90 percent the investments that help inform families about 
their coverage options and followed through on his year-long threat to 
discontinue payments designed to lower out-of-pocket costs for low-
income enrollees.
  This is a scenario that healthcare experts said would cause mass 
consumer confusion and anxiety, one that insurance companies planned 
for by shifting that burden of uncertainty to patients and taxpayers in 
the form of higher premiums and fewer options in State marketplaces.
  Now, this is by no means the full list of ways President Trump has 
attempted his healthcare sabotage, but it does explain why we are here 
now. Today is the first day of the open enrollment period for 2018, and 
as a direct result of this President's actions, families are going to 
see higher premiums, more out-of-pocket costs, and fewer coverage 
options. Many families will have to change their coverage if they want 
to avoid paying hundreds of dollars more in premiums.
  At a time when we need to continue to do more to bend the healthcare 
cost curve in the right direction, taxpayers are being burdened with 
higher

[[Page S6942]]

healthcare costs to the Federal Government--not because of any 
improvement in quality or comprehensiveness, just because of the chaos 
this administration has caused.
  In fact, just last week, the Trump administration proposed a rule to 
double down on the sabotage in 2019 that would let insurers cover fewer 
services in addition to raising costs. I have to say, I just truly 
never imagined that a President of the United States would so openly 
and uncaringly root for the people of this country to be worse off. But 
that is exactly what President Trump is doing. It needs to be said, and 
it needs to be stopped.

  What makes this even more frustrating is that a lot of it could have 
been stopped months ago if Republican leaders hadn't insisted on trying 
to help this administration carry out its partisan, wrecking-ball 
healthcare strategy.
  Back in September, Chairman Alexander and I were very near agreement 
on a bipartisan bill to stabilize healthcare markets and protect 
families from higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs through regular 
order, through a process that actually engaged over half the Senate. We 
were on the verge of reaching an agreement when Republican leaders 
froze our negotiations. Why? In order to jam TrumpCare through the 
Senate one more time.
  Let me repeat that. Republican leaders hit the pause button on a 
bipartisan process that could have lowered premiums and stabilized 
markets, exposing our patients and families to the full impact of 
President Trump's sabotage.
  That is the bad news, but the good news is that the legislation 
Chairman Alexander and I ultimately agreed on can and will still have 
an impact--not just a few years from now but in 2018--if Republican 
leaders don't stand in the way again. Our bill would, among other 
priorities, continue out-of-pocket cost reduction payments and make 
sure that patients and families, not insurance companies, see the 
benefit of that certainty in the form of rebates next year. The 
legislation Chairman Alexander and I have proposed, with 12 Democratic 
and 12 Republican cosponsors, would do a lot to help us get things back 
on track. It would tie President Trump's hands on sabotage, and it 
would send a very powerful message that elected officials in Congress 
can work together to get things done when we focus on common ground 
rather than scoring political points.
  I would once again urge the majority leader to allow our legislation 
to get a vote. It has the support of 60-plus Senators, and it is 
growing. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said that it 
provides billions in savings and would stabilize the markets this year 
and lower premiums in 2019. And the President told Chairman Alexander 
that he supports this process moving forward.
  There is no reason to wait. There is absolutely no excuse for 
inaction, and I am going to continue doing everything I can to make 
that clear until Republican leaders finally listen to the patients and 
families they serve.
  Mr. President, while I am here today, I also want to take a few 
minutes to speak on another way that I believe President Trump and 
Republicans are taking our country in a direction that is deeply 
harmful; that is, by stacking our courts with extreme conservative 
judges.
  The Senate this week is going to vote on four judicial nominees who 
each have the far-rightwing seal of approval. Two are on President 
Trump's short list for Supreme Court Justices, meaning they would 
automatically vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. Unfortunately, their views 
on many things--LGBTQ rights, sexual assault, criminal justice, and 
corporate interests--are just as deeply troubling. One of the nominees 
we are considering this week advocated for using electric shocks for 
criminal punishment, and two--Amy Barrett and Stephanos Bibas--were 
nominated only after Republicans blocked the nominations of Myra Selby 
and Rebecca Haywood--both who happen to be African-American women--to 
the respective benches.
  It is clear that as Republican leaders' list of legislative failures 
grows longer, their effort to enact their agenda by administrative 
action and by stacking the courts is only going to accelerate. That 
might appeal to extreme conservatives--in fact, I am pretty sure it 
does--but the truth is that whether it is healthcare or infrastructure 
or taxes, most people across the country really want to see Congress 
working together.
  I am going to continue doing everything I can to speak out and fight 
back against extreme, harmful steps that are being taken by this 
administration and allowed by Republican leaders here in Congress and 
also to show there is a better way to get things done--by working under 
regular order, across the aisle, and putting people, not politics, 
first. That is what families rightfully expect, and that is what we all 
should be focused on.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.