[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 153 (Thursday, September 18, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6710-S6711]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Healthcare
Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, we are in the middle of a full-blown
healthcare crisis. Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are ripping
away healthcare from 15 million Americans. And now, thanks to Donald
Trump, one in four nursing homes could close, community health clinics
are on the brink of shutting their doors, hospitals, already filled to
the brim with patients, are bracing for the biggest cuts in decades.
Kids with cancer are watching as promising research, their only chance
at treatment, is shut down and health insurance premiums are
skyrocketing.
Talk to anyone in the country, and they will tell you that the cost
of going to the doctor is already way too high because the reality is
that healthcare in America was already failing families even before
Trump and Republicans took a chain saw to it.
Massachusetts lost two hospitals last year in the biggest healthcare
bankruptcy in decades. Our community health centers were already down
to counting their nickels to keep the door open. And now, the
Republicans have come in and said they want to take away money that
helps cover mamas giving birth and neighbors who need wheelchairs and
home health aides so that they can hand that money over to billionaire
CEOs. Trump's one-two punch of chaotic tariffs and his Big Beautiful
Bill is going to push middle-class families in America over a financial
cliff.
Before working moms go broke from a cancer diagnosis, Congress must
act. Before community hospitals are forced to shut down, Congress must
act. Before your neighbor with the home health aide loses his care,
Congress must act.
That is why Democrats are saying, if Republicans want our votes, they
need to restore healthcare for Americans. We made it about as clear as
we humanly can. The American people need affordable healthcare. No one
should go bankrupt because they got sick and needed to see a doctor.
And if the Republicans want to shut down government so that they can
keep increasing costs and cutting healthcare, then they need to explain
that and not just to us; they need to
[[Page S6711]]
explain it to the American people. Every Senator here is here to work
for the American people, and part of that job is coming to the
negotiating table and making a plan to fund government. But Donald
Trump flat-out said he doesn't want to negotiate with Democrats. He
said:
Don't even bother dealing with them.
OK, then, Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White
House. You own the healthcare crisis. Democrats believe that not a
single newborn baby in America should lose healthcare, not a single
senior should be tossed out of their nursing home and onto the curb,
and not a single person should have to drive hours and hours to get to
the nearest hospital.
If we are going to pass a budget for the U.S. Government, then we
need to save healthcare for millions of Americans, period.
And make no mistake, every penny of funding needs to be protected
from a Trump power grab. Since the week he took office, Donald Trump
has been trying to illegally rip away money from programs that Congress
has already agreed to fund. His latest ploy: an attempt to zero out
funding without even asking for Congress's approval. It is a dirty
trick, and it is illegal. We can't have Democrats and Republicans in
Congress agree to a budget that helps people get to the doctor and pay
for lifesaving cancer research and then turn around and have Donald
Trump just halt that money. We need proper safeguards.
So this is our moment. This is our chance to restore healthcare for
millions of people in this country. Right now is our small window of
opportunity. The Democrats are ready to go. We want to seize this
opportunity. It is only the Republicans who stand in the way.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.