[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 38 (Monday, March 4, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1609-S1610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Chad A. Readler

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this week the Senate will vote on another 
of President Trump's hard-right judicial nominees, Chad Readler, of the 
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Ohio.
  Let me just say, anyone who thinks the Republican Party has abandoned 
their embrace of eliminating protections for preexisting conditions 
ought to see how everyone votes on Chad Readler. It will be a surprise 
to no one that this nomination is proceeding over the objection of 
Senator Brown, yet another example of Republicans discarding the blue 
slip. Mr. Readler stands out in his own way. A vote to confirm this 
nomination is a vote to end protections for Americans with preexisting 
conditions.

  Mr. Readler is behind the Trump administration's decision last year 
to side with Texas and 19 other States with Republican attorneys 
general suing to repeal our healthcare law. Mr. Readler was not just 
somebody who worked on the case; he was the lead lawyer, filing the 
Department of Justice brief declaring that the administration refused 
to defend the laws of our country.
  In a brief so outlandish that career Justice Department attorneys 
refused to sign, Mr. Readler argued that protections for people with 
preexisting conditions should be eliminated. Mark my words. When this 
vote is cast, we will see how every Republican feels about preexisting 
conditions, their protestations to the contrary.
  Listen to this, folks. On the very next day after the brief was 
submitted, Mr. Readler was rewarded for his efforts by President Trump 
with a nomination for a lifetime appointment. On day one, Readler files 
the lead suit to eliminate protections for those with preexisting 
conditions, and on day two, he is nominated to the bench--a lifetime 
appointment.
  All 47 of us Senate Democrats are united in opposing this nomination, 
and we urge our Republican colleagues who claim to support protections 
for preexisting conditions to join us in voting to reject his 
nomination.
  He is not just some lawyer who participated. He is the chief cook and 
bottle washer of the case that hurts hundreds of millions of Americans. 
If you have a daughter with cancer, and you can't get insurance, if you 
have a wife or a husband who has a serious condition, and the insurance 
company pulls back, you are losing your protection if Readler has his 
way. Now he is going to get on the bench with a lifetime appointment 
unless our Republican colleagues have the sense and the courage to 
block him.
  On this vote, every Republican will be forced to show their 
constituents and the American people whether they stand for preexisting 
condition protections, for more Americans having healthcare coverage, 
protecting Medicaid, and all insurance plans covering maternity care 
and prescription drugs. Having failed in Congress to repeal these vital 
healthcare protections that American families count on each day, 
President Trump has turned to the courts. The decision by Mr. Readler, 
President Trump, and others in the Trump administration to side with 
Republican attorneys general who have declared our healthcare law 
unconstitutional is the latest example of the

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President and Republicans trying to repeal our healthcare law.
  The Texas lawsuit is working its way through the courts now. If Mr. 
Readler's legal argument prevails in the courts, access to healthcare 
for children with asthma, adults with arthritis, and cancer survivors 
would no longer be guaranteed.
  Mr. Readler argues that preexisting condition protections like these 
are unconstitutional. We Senate Democrats think that is outrageous and 
extreme, which is why we are calling on Republicans to join us in 
opposing his nomination.
  In short, any Republican Senator who supports Mr. Readler's 
nomination is supporting the Trump Republican lawsuit to get rid of 
preexisting condition protections and to take away healthcare from tens 
of millions--if not hundreds of millions--of Americans.