[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 61 (Tuesday, April 9, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2297-S2298]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Medicare

  Madam President, on a completely different matter, we are continuing 
to watch as our friends across the aisle take big steps in their 
party's continued march toward the far, far left. As I

[[Page S2298]]

understand, they will soon introduce the Senate version of the radical 
healthcare proposal that I have come to call Medicare for None.
  It is only the latest installment in the steady drumbeat of calls for 
socialist central planning that we have been hearing from our 
Democratic colleagues as of late.
  Earlier this year, we saw the Speaker of the House declare her top 
priority as the Democrat politician protection act, an effort to 
literally rewrite the rules of free speech in American elections and 
give political campaigns a big dose of taxpayer dollars, all so the 
outcome of the political process could be more to the Democrats' 
liking.
  We have seen all but a tiny handful of our Democratic colleagues 
unable to reject an absurdly intrusive and mind-bogglingly expensive 
plan to forcibly remodel the U.S. economy and American families' lives 
until they are sufficiently ``green.''
  Now, perhaps as soon as this week, the latest new scheme will make 
landfall in the Senate. I am sure it will grab a new round of 
headlines, but under the Cadillac hood, it will offer only the same old 
push mower engine, the same tired, debunked logic that Washington knows 
best and the American people can't be trusted to decide what is best 
for themselves and their families.
  That tired, old engine cannot power the kind of healthcare that 
Americans deserve. The legislation my colleagues want to brand as 
Medicare for All hollows out the actual Medicare Program that our 
seniors rely on until the only thing left is the label. Then it takes 
that label and slaps it on a brandnew, untested, government-run plan 
that every single American would be forced into--forced into--whether 
they like it or not. In fact, competing private insurance policies, 
such as the ones that 180 million Americans currently use, would be 
banned outright--gone.
  For the privilege of having their existing Medicare or existing 
employer-provided plans ripped away from them by the same old 
Washington experts who brought us ObamaCare with sky-high premiums and 
deductibles, out-of-pocket costs, and dysfunction--for that privilege 
the American people would have to pick up a historic $32 trillion tab. 
That is just the rough estimate for the first 10 years--$32 trillion 
over 10 years. That is more than the Federal Government has spent on 
everything--everything--over the past 8 years combined. It is so much 
that even senior Democrats aren't claiming to know how it will be paid 
for. That price is so steep that even left-leaning analysts are 
admitting that the tax burden is virtually certain to land on the 
shoulders of the middle class.
  Here is the Washington Post, verbatim: ``Medicare-for-all in 
particular would require tax hikes on middle class families.''
  To give you a sense of scale for this nightmare, one think tank has 
calculated that ``doubling all Federal individual and corporate income 
taxes''--doubling them--``would be insufficient to fully finance the 
plan.''
  Doubling all of the corporate and individual income taxes would be 
insufficient to fully finance the plan. Doubling what Americans send to 
the IRS in income taxes would take away all of the competition and 
choice in the health insurance market. The failures and foibles of 
ObamaCare, as painful as they are for so many families, would likely be 
just the warmup act to this socialist bonanza.
  Apparently this is what my Democratic colleagues believe will pass 
for a political winner. We are looking forward to that debate.
  I will give them this: With Republicans standing for preserving what 
works and fixing what doesn't, for reducing tax rates instead of 
shooting them sky-high, and for strengthening the employer-sponsored 
and Medicare Advantage plans that American families actually rely on 
instead of snatching those plans away, my Democratic friends are 
certainly working hard to paint a contrast--and we welcome it.


                                S. 1057

  Madam President, on one final matter, even as the Senate grapples 
with these kinds of major disagreements, I want to highlight that there 
were still bipartisan accomplishments constantly coming out of this 
Chamber. They don't always make national front-page news, but they 
often represent hugely significant progress for the American people.
  Just yesterday afternoon, the Senate passed legislation from Senator 
Martha McSally to formalize a landmark drought contingency plan for the 
Colorado River Basin. Our Senate colleagues from the West have been 
working with State and local leaders literally for years to develop 
this bipartisan, bicameral solution. Seven States, countless local and 
Tribal authorities, and both the United States and Mexico have skin in 
this game, so hammering out this coordinated plan was no small feat.
  Now that this agreement will be codified in Federal law, tens of 
millions of Americans will be able to rest easier, knowing that their 
supply of drinking water and irrigation will be better protected from 
water shortages.
  I want to congratulate all of our colleagues who worked hard to make 
this happen, particularly Senator McSally and Senator Gardner, who have 
been strong voices for this agreement and the people of Arizona and 
Colorado. I look forward to the President signing this into law in the 
very near future.

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