[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 164 (Tuesday, September 22, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5738-S5739]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Affordable Care Act

  Madam President, we know what is at stake as well in terms of this 
Nation. There are 200,000 Americans--that number is likely to be 
confirmed in just a matter of hours, if not days--who have died of 
COVID-19.
  You say to yourself: Well, it is a global pandemic, and people are 
dying everywhere.
  That is true, but the rate of death in America, sadly, leads the 
world. It is not an indication of American greatness that the infection 
rate from COVID-19 in the United States of America is five times what 
it is in Germany. It is not an indication of American greatness when 
the infection rate in the United States is twice what it is in Canada. 
It is not a reflection of the greatness of America that, with 4\1/2\ 
percent of the global population, we have 20 percent of the people who 
have died from this pandemic. This President and this administration 
have utterly failed when it has come to this public health crisis--one 
of the most challenging in a century.
  For the 6 million people who have been infected with this COVID virus 
in America, we pray that they will recover fully, but we know, in many 
cases, they will not. We know that, without the protection in the 
Affordable Care Act, many insurers will refuse to issue policies to 
these people in the future if the Republicans have their way and 
eliminate the Affordable Care Act.
  Amy, of Huntley, IL, recently wrote to me:

       Please save the ACA. Without it, caps will come back, and, 
     with them, my children's mental health care coverage will 
     essentially disappear. I have three children, each with 
     varying mental health disabilities. Before the Affordable 
     Care Act, our Blue Cross-Blue Shield plan had a maximum 
     family lifetime cap of 100 mental health care visits.

  A lifetime cap, she says, of 100 visits.

       That is it. When the ACA was passed, it was like a 
     tremendous weight had been taken off our family.

  Young adults, incidentally, up to the age of 26 are protected by 
their families' health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. If the 
Trump administration, Mitch McConnell, and the new Supreme Court 
nominee have their way, that would end. Insurance plans would no longer 
have to cover prescription drugs, maternity care, mental health, or 
addiction treatment. While still facing the opioid crisis, eliminating 
the Affordable Care Act would eliminate the guarantee that your son, 
your daughter, or someone in your family who is facing the addiction of 
this terrible drug would have coverage when it comes to addiction 
treatment.
  Misty, of Gurnee, IL, wrote:

       In a time where my husband is unemployed and I've been 
     quarantined . . . losing our health care now would be 
     absolutely devastating for my family. My husband and I are 
     both on daily prescription meds, and we have two daughters 
     who desperately need health care coverage as well. I am 
     asking you to protect the Affordable Care Act.

  Misty, I am going to protect the Affordable Care Act by opposing 
President Trump's Supreme Court nominee

[[Page S5739]]

because he has promised us that the nominee will eliminate the 
Affordable Care Act. I could not in good conscience support such a 
nominee.
  When the Affordable Care Act goes away, as the Republicans are 
seeking to achieve in court and now on the floor of the Senate, 
Medicare would face insolvency sooner--at least 1 year sooner--and 
seniors would be charged more for prescription drugs. Hospitals in 
Illinois, especially downstate and inner city hospitals, would see 
significant revenue losses from the elimination of Medicaid expansion.
  This is the real world, and the people who are writing to my office 
are doing so of their own volition to let me know what they face. This 
isn't just a matter of big shots in Washington who are fighting with 
one another to see who can get more camera time. It isn't a question of 
who is going to appear more on the cable TV shows. It is a question of 
whether we care about the families we represent.
  Most families, my own included, have been through this. I know the 
sleepless nights when you worry about whether you have health 
insurance. I know what it is like to be the father of a new baby who 
has serious medical conditions and to have no insurance at all. I have 
faced it, and I will never forget it. I will never forget the families 
who sent me to Washington to remember them as well.
  This is about more than who gets bragging rights politically at the 
end of the day; it is about the right of every American family to have 
peace of mind in knowing they have quality, affordable, accessible 
health insurance coverage.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Loeffler). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the Meyers nomination?
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito), the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Johnson), the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Sullivan), and the Senator from 
North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Johnson) would have voted yea.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from California (Ms. Harris), 
the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Michigan 
(Ms. Stabenow) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cruz). Are there any other Senators in the 
Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 66, nays 27, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 185 Ex.]

                                YEAS--66

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Burr
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Duckworth
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Jones
     Kennedy
     King
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Lee
     Loeffler
     Manchin
     McConnell
     McSally
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Paul
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Sinema
     Tester
     Thune
     Toomey
     Warner
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--27

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Coons
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Klobuchar
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murray
     Reed
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Smith
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--7

     Capito
     Harris
     Johnson
     Sanders
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tillis
  The nomination was confirmed

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