[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 1, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2533-S2534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               HEALTHCARE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on another matter, while the Senate may 
be writing a new chapter of bipartisan productivity, the same cannot be 
said for the House under Democratic leadership. On this side of the 
Capitol, we have passed timely legislation to address real, urgent 
policy priorities. S. 1, for example, helps fight back against anti-
Semitism and attends to several other pressing matters with respect to 
American foreign policy in the Middle East.
  The Senate debated the bill and passed it by a wide bipartisan 
majority. We sent it over to the House, and now it is just sitting 
there, gathering dust. It is gathering dust because Democratic 
leadership is more interested in making flashy political points and 
picking fights with the President than in making meaningful bipartisan 
progress.
  House Democrats are uninterested in our important foreign policy 
legislation. What has captured their energy and attention instead? This 
week they are giving prime billing to a scheme

[[Page S2534]]

that would snatch away the private health insurance plans that more 
than 180 million Americans rely on and jeopardize the Medicare coverage 
counted on by tens of millions more. That is what they are up to this 
week.
  The House Rules Committee, and by extension the Democratic 
leadership, have officially granted a platform to this proposal, which 
could best be described as Medicare for None. That is not just some 
cute phrase. It is literally what the plan would usher in--an end to 
the Medicare Program as American seniors have known it for generations. 
Democrats want to take the program that seniors have paid into, which 
we ought to be shoring up and stabilizing, and, instead, pile every 
other American into it--one size fits all. That is what it is: End 
Medicare as we know it; reuse its name for a new sort of built-from-
scratch, government-administered plan, and make sure the resulting 
Washington nightmare is the only game in town by outlawing choice and 
competition from the private sector. That is what they want to do.
  To the 60 million seniors on Medicare, most of whom like things the 
way they are, Democrats say: Too bad. To the 180 million-plus other 
Americans who rely on private health coverage from their employers, 
many of whom like their own plans, our Democratic colleagues say: Too 
bad. All of these things that American families count on, I guess my 
Democratic colleagues want to wipe them all away in favor of this 
untested government takeover--completely untested.
  In Congresses past, this kind of far-left proposal would have been 
unlikely to even receive a hearing. Democrats would have taken one look 
at this socialist steamroller and run away from it like the plague. 
Jeopardize current health coverage for nearly all Americans--one way or 
another--for the sake of leftwing ideology? Who would go for that?
  Needless to say, times seem to have changed. Now, across the aisle, 
this level of radical intrusion is the proud rallying cry both here in 
Congress, and, of course, out on the Presidential campaign trail. One 
of the major ironies is that Medicare is not even safely on autopilot 
as things stand right now, let alone herding every other American into 
the system. As I have noted, the Administrator of CMS herself recently 
explained that ``the program's main trust fund for hospital services 
can only pay full benefits for seven more years.'' That is the Medicare 
we have now.
  Instead of a serious plan to shore up Medicare or address costs for 
middle-class families, Democrats are focused on raising taxes 
massively, trading consumer choice for Washington control, and 
destabilizing the current system in the process.
  Senate Republicans will stay focused on middle-class families' 
priorities. We will leave the destructive daydreams to our friends 
across the aisle.

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