[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 174 (Tuesday, October 21, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7172-S7176]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
______
CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS AND EXTENSIONS ACT, 2026--Motion to Proceed
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 168, H.R.
5371.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant executive clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 168, H.R. 5371, making
continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year
2026, and for other purposes.
Government Funding
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, 3 weeks. It has been 3 weeks since
Democrats shut down the government. Democrats chose to put the demands
of far-left activists ahead of serving the American people, and over
the last 3 weeks, it is the American people who have borne the
consequences of the Democrat shutdown. Thousands of flights have been
delayed. Nutrition assistance for millions of needy families is in
jeopardy. Military families are turning to food banks in
``unprecedented'' numbers.
Democrats apparently are willing to prolong the suffering until their
far-left base is satisfied. We have given Democrats here in the Senate
numerous opportunities to end the shutdown. We have held now 11 votes
on a clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution to end the shutdown and
the pain that comes with it, and they said no every time.
We gave Democrats an opportunity to consider the bipartisan Defense
appropriations bill--something that, I might add, passed the Senate
Appropriations Committee 26 to 3, an overwhelming bipartisan vote. We
gave them an opportunity to consider that here on the floor so we can
at least protect our national security and pay our troops. Democrats
called it ``unacceptable'' and a ``distraction'' to pay the troops.
We even offered to give them a vote on a healthcare proposal of their
own design if they vote to reopen the government. The answer again was
no.
I don't know what Democrats are looking for, but if they are looking
for Republicans to give in to their hostage taking, they should think
again. I have been very clear since the beginning. On the first day of
this shutdown, I said Republicans would be perfectly willing to discuss
the issues Democrats are raising but only after we reopen the
government.
I said, and I quote, quoting myself here:
[W]e're not going to engage in bipartisan discussions while
Democrats are holding the federal government hostage to their
partisan demands.
Interestingly enough, that is the exact same position the Democrat
leader espoused during the 2013 shutdown. He said then:
As we said a thousand times, we are happy to discuss how to
fund the government but not with a gun to our head. Open up
all of the government, and then we can have a fruitful
discussion. . . . Then we will discuss things, but--as has
been said over and over--not with a gun to our heads.
That is from the Democrat leader back in 2013.
He espoused the same position, interestingly enough, again in 2019,
noting:
We cannot--cannot--ever hold American workers hostage
again.
Yet here he is in 2025 holding American workers and government
funding hostage. I guess he has forgotten his own words, or maybe it is
just situational, like a lot of things. They just adopted a political
position, not a real one.
Republicans are ready to sit down with Democrats just as soon as they
stop holding the government hostage to their partisan demands. As I
have said, we have actually offered to guarantee them a vote on the
ObamaCare issue they are raising, but Democrats continue to dig in.
They say we have to agree to their demands before they will agree to
pay our troops, before Federal workers can have certainty about putting
food on the table and paying their bills, before needy families can be
sure that nutrition assistance will be there for them. They say all of
this has to wait until after we fix a problem Democrats created,
because, let's be clear, the ObamaCare cliff that Democrats are so
worked up about is a result of their own choices.
Democrats wrote ObamaCare. They passed ObamaCare without a single
Republican vote. They created the ObamaCare COVID credits without a
single Republican vote. They extended the COVID credits, and then they
chose the expiration date without a single Republican vote. That is
right--they chose the expiration date, and then they chose not to
address that expiration date when they had the majority here in the
Senate for the last 4 years. But now they want you to believe that this
is somehow a ``Republican healthcare crisis.'' Give me a break. Give me
a break.
If Democrats truly want a discussion on how to fix the healthcare
mess they created, then they should be voting to reopen the government,
and we have a bill right there at the desk that will do just that. It
is clean. It is nonpartisan. It has no new Republican policies. It has
no partisan policy riders. It just extends current funding levels for a
few short weeks until we get an opportunity to finish the rest of the
appropriations process.
Right now, we are just five Democrat votes away from passing that
here in the Senate and sending it to the White House for President
Trump to sign. And if just a handful--a handful--of Democrats would
step forward, we could reopen the government literally in a matter of
hours, today.
As I said from the very beginning of the shutdown, I made it clear
that if Democrats reopen the government, we
[[Page S7173]]
can immediately sit down and talk about the ObamaCare cliff they have
created.
Instead, Democrats have wasted now 1, 2, 3 weeks when we could have
been having those discussions.
And while the American people have suffered, Democrats have been
courting praise from the far left. They spent their time looking to be
praised for fighting against President Trump when they could have been
working with him and with Republicans on solving a problem they claim
to be concerned about.
I will say it again: Republicans are ready to go to work. We have
been ready. We are just waiting for Democrats to take yes for an
answer.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Recognition of the Minority Leader
The Democratic leader is recognized.
Government Funding
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I just heard my friend the Republican
leader Senator Thune here on the floor, and I heard him say that
Democrats are somehow pushing far-left demands here in the Senate.
What the heck is he talking about? How is it far left to say we want
to lower healthcare premiums and spare tens of millions of people from
financial ruin? Far left? Tell that to an American family whose
premiums will go up from $200 a month to $1,400 a month; that fixing
that is far left. Tell that to young couples whose parents are about to
get kicked out of nursing homes. Tell that to people who live in rural
America and see their hospitals closing. That is far left?
I am afraid the Republican leader doesn't know what the American
people want and where they are on healthcare.
There is nothing far left or far right or center about wanting lower
premiums. It is common sense. It is what the American people
overwhelmingly want. Fifty-eight percent of Trump voters--they are not
far left--want the ACA tax credits extended, according to the
Washington Post.
And we cannot--we cannot--and must not delay like Republicans want to
do.
And beyond that, Leader Thune--I don't know what got into him today--
also claimed Republicans are ready to get to work.
Really? Tell that to Speaker Johnson and the House Republicans, who
have been on vacation for nearly a month--nearly a month.
So they want to get to work? Then, get Johnson back here. Get the
House Republicans back here, if they want to work.
The American people see right through that one.
It is day 21 of Donald Trump's government shutdown. While millions of
Americans are feeling the squeeze, as I said, the House remains on
vacation, and Senate Republicans are headed to the White House, today,
not for negotiations, not to work on any path out of a shutdown or to
avert a healthcare crisis, but for a Rose Garden pep rally with Donald
Trump.
That is right. Senate Republicans, today, will join the President to
celebrate staying strong and being unified--staying strong against
helping Americans who desperately need a fix to the healthcare crisis,
staying strong to the young couple whose parents are getting kicked out
of a nursing home, staying strong to people in rural America who are
seeing their hospitals close.
So as millions of Americans continue to endure the pain of one of the
longest shutdowns in American history, Republicans will be celebrating
keeping the shutdown going. Republicans may not have time to fix
people's healthcare, but, apparently, they have plenty of time for a
mini pep rally with Donald Trump.
In the meantime, the pain for Americans is getting more and more
real. More and more States are notifying their residents about the
disastrous premium hikes coming their way. And the pressure is building
on Republicans, the party in the majority, to do something about this
shutdown and about the cost of living.
A CNBC poll from Friday found Americans now hold Donald Trump and
Republicans responsible for the shutdown by a 53-to-37 margin. Sixty-
two percent of Americans in the same poll disapprove of the President's
handling of inflation. Fifty-six percent disapprove of his handling of
tariffs.
In other words, what do Americans care about most? Cost, inflation,
healthcare--the very things Republicans here in the Senate and in the
House are refusing to address because they want to shut the government
down to avoid discussing the healthcare issue and having a serious
negotiation about it.
Our Republican colleagues can dig in all they want, but, at the end
of the day, the American people know the Republicans are in power. They
know Republicans set the agenda. They know that Republicans have the
Presidency, the House, and the Senate. And the burden is on Republicans
to work with Democrats in a serious way to reopen the government and
fix people's premiums.
That is why, when I was majority leader, we passed 13 CRs, precisely
through bipartisan consultation. When Democrats were in the majority,
we talked with the leadership on the other side. We negotiated. We
worked together. We didn't have a shutdown.
That is not what is happening here. It is a take-it-or-leave-it
partisan bill with no input from Democrats whatsoever.
Now, yesterday, on the floor, the Republican leader kept using the
word ``galling'' to describe Democrat's push to find a bipartisan fix
to ACA premiums. The Republican leader wants to talk about galling?
What is galling is doing nothing--nothing--as 20 million Americans face
the prospect of paying $1,000 or more a month just to have health
insurance. What is galling is saying there is nothing to negotiate on
healthcare while, as we speak, people from New York to Georgia and
beyond are going online and seeing their premiums are now going from
$600 a month to $2,200 a month. What is galling is Republicans being OK
with people like Kristi Noem getting a private jet; Donald Trump
getting his fancy, expensive new ballroom; Argentina getting a $40
billion bailout; but then saying Americans don't deserve cheaper
healthcare. That is what is galling. I will say to my friend the
Republican leader: That is what is galling.
If my Republican colleagues take issue with any of that, perhaps,
they should not have spent their whole summer passing the biggest
healthcare cuts in American history. Perhaps, the Republican majority
should have acted when they had not one, not two, but three chances to
extend these ACA premium credits.
Democrats were ready to work with the other side to get it done, but
Republicans continue to act like these ACA premiums are not their
problem. They are the problem of the American people, and they are a
problem with every legislative Democrat or Republican who serves here.
The fact that they continue to act like the ACA premiums are not
their problem, that, more than anything else, is what is galling to the
American people about this debate.
Nomination of Paul Joseph Ingrassia
Mr. President, now, on Mr. Paul Ingrassia, yesterday, for the second
week in a row, we got a disturbing report about a young Republican
operative celebrating Nazi--Nazi--ideology and racist garbage when they
think no one is listening. This is what they really think, and they
continue to be appointed in positions of power by Donald Trump.
Last week, it was thousands of pages of texts from prominent members
of Young Republicans from New York, Vermont, Arizona, and other States.
Well, this week, it is Mr. Paul Ingrassia, a Presidential nominee for a
very important office--the Office of Special Counsel--and his
nomination is scheduled to come up before the Homeland Security
Committee this week.
Mr. Ingrassia's texts are appalling and point to a really disturbed
individual. Let me read a few of the disgusting texts from Ingrassia:
I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will
admit.
MLK . . . was the 1960s George Floyd Floyd and his
``holiday'' should be ended and tossed
[[Page S7174]]
into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs.
[A]ll of Africa is a [S]-hole and will always be that way.
Though he didn't say just ``S-hole.'' Imagine, a whole continent.
Mr. President, these are texts from a Presidential nominee. Do they
vet them? And if they vet them and know these things, do they shrug
their shoulders and say that is OK? These texts are foul and
disqualifying, and it is hard to believe there would be any process in
any White House that would allow such a man through to be nominated.
This person does not merit confirmation by this body. I am glad a
number of our Republican colleagues have said so. That is good and
necessary.
To state the most obvious thing in the world, the President should
pull the nomination of Mr. Ingrassia, today, before his big celebratory
lunch. He is not going to pass. Ingrassia is not going to pass through
this Chamber.
And I want to be very clear about something else. These texts that
have surfaced over the last couple of weeks are not a laughing matter.
Some of these Republicans wink at each other and say: Isn't that funny?
Won't that gall people? Isn't that fun?
This is not a laughing matter. These texts are dangerous.
And I hope I am wrong, but we are now seeing what seems to be a
pattern of young Republican operatives perfectly at ease spreading or
endorsing surprisingly Nazi propaganda and racist views. These people
aren't random online trolls who are just college kids. They are party
operatives--in the case of Mr. Ingrassia, a nominee to serve in the
administration in a very important position and picked by the President
of the United States.
These are the people who one day will likely hold senior positions
within government or the Republican Party, and here they are calling
themselves Nazis and endorsing outright racist views.
Again, is there any vetting? Do they care?
It is incredible--just incredible--that this happens over and over
again. It makes you wonder how many Trump nominees or GOP operatives
have said similar things but have not been exposed. It is a chilling
thought. Now that this has happened on multiple occasions, it can't be
outright dismissed.
Again, the President should pull Mr. Ingrassia's nomination
immediately. He should be fired from his current job within the
administration, and he should never--never--hold a position of
leadership within the Republican Party or the government again.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Tuberville). The majority whip.
Government Funding
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor having just heard
the minority leader on the floor, and I would like to remind the
minority leader that it was the Democrats who created ObamaCare and, in
the process, broke healthcare in this country.
I am a doctor. I practiced medicine in Wyoming for 24 years. I want
American citizens to receive quality, affordable care. So much of that
has been impossible because of what the minority leader supported when
Barack Obama was in the White House.
They realized it was failing so they had to prop it up with juicy
subsidies. And it was still failing. So, then, during COVID, they
needed to prop it up even more with even juicier subsidies.
That is what he is talking about today.
Let me point out that it was the minority leader and his party that
set the date for those to end. They are the ones that chose that date.
Those are the folks that have caused the problem here today.
With all these juicy subsidies, what they ended up with is a program
fraught with waste, fraud, abuse, and even corruption. They removed all
of the income issues so that anybody--no matter how wealthy and how
much money they are making--are qualified for these juicy subsidies. It
is just wrong.
There has been a complete fall-down in terms of the cost of
healthcare. The expenses have continued to rise, and the failures are
the result of the program they put in place, in the first place.
But the minority leader doesn't want to think about any of that. That
is the reason--one of the reasons--the Democrats are holding the
American people hostage and keeping the government closed for today,
the 21st day of the Schumer shutdown.
On Thursday, Republicans brought to this Senate floor a bipartisan
appropriations bill. It was a bill to appropriate money for the
military. It funds our defense, it funds our troops, and it even gives
the troops a raise.
So, this summer, Democrats overwhelmingly supported this bill in
committee. The Appropriations Committee voted 26 in favor and only 3
opposed. So you think it might have a shot--a chance of passing--here
on the floor of the U.S. Senate--to pay the troops, to make sure they
have the weapons they need, to make sure they can be the fighting force
we need to protect our Nation.
But, on Thursday, Senate Democrats voted no. Evidently, they were for
it before they were against it. All but three Democrats voted to deny
paychecks to our men and women in uniform.
So why would they do that? Why would they be for and then against it?
Why would they change their tune?
It is because the radical wing of the Democrat party demanded it. The
radical wing of the Democrat Party, that is who these people are
playing up to. They would rather provide free healthcare to illegal
immigrants in this country than pay the men and women in uniform. That
is who the Democrat party members of this Senate are listening to, are
following the advice of. And they are following them right over the
cliff.
Before the vote, Senator Chris Coons of Delaware came to the floor to
explain why the Democrats had flip-flopped on this critical issue of
defending the Nation. He is the ranking member of the Defense
Appropriations Subcommittee. He helped write the bill. You would think
he would be for it. He is well aware of what we need to do to supply
the military with what they need.
In his speech, he called the bill-writing process--he said it was
``positive,'' it was ``constructive,'' and it was ``bipartisan.'' Sure
it was. That is how you get a bill out of committee 26 to 3. Yet he
admitted, on this very floor, last Thursday:
I won't vote just for the Defense appropriations bill, even
though it is my bill.
There you have it. He praised it. He helped write it. He voted yes.
Then he voted no.
That is the Democrat party of today. They were for it before they
were against it.
That is what happens when you let the radical leftwing of the party
call the shots. Democrats have now voted 11 times against a clean
continuing resolution to reopen the government.
I would remind the President that they voted 13 times on similar
measures supporting opening the government--supporting a clean
continuing resolution when Joe Biden was President. The only difference
now is that the far-left activist groups are watching, and they are
taking names.
One Democrat Senator admitted that voting to reopen the government
would mean ``people are going to get hammered by the radical left.''
That is what they are worried about--getting hammered by the radical
left.
It has been reported that Senators are ``terrified''--the Democrat
Senators--``terrified'' of getting the guillotine from the far-left
activist groups, afraid of getting hammered. They are trying to avoid
the guillotine. That is what the Democrats are doing today.
Democrats know they could end this shutdown today, but they are too
scared of the radical activists who continue to call the tune of the
Democrat Party. You saw it this past weekend. They were congratulating
themselves.
On Saturday, Senate Democrats protested in the streets, and they
protested with radicals who were seen holding signs that called for the
death of President Trump. That is the Democrat Party of 2025. Democrats
gave speeches that bragged about shutting down the government. They
chanted old, tired songs about resistance, and they worked overtime to
prove their loyalty to their rulers--the people who have the leash and
the chains around their necks. They are their rulers. They are the
Marxist, the pro-criminal, the anti-police, the anti-ICE, the anti-
[[Page S7175]]
American wing of the Democrat Party. They are the ones calling the
tunes. They are a dangerous, extreme, scary, and radical wing of the
party. These are the same radicals by whom the Democrats say they are
terrified of getting the guillotine.
Senator Bernie Sanders said:
If the shutdown ends, Democrats will lose their leverage.
Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said, ``I am very proud,'' he
said, of his Democrat colleagues for shutting down the government.
Proud of what? Proud of denying soldiers their paychecks and denying
the paychecks of air traffic controllers and TSA agents--all who have
to work without pay day in and day out? Are they proud of that? Are
they proud of these workers like the one I talked to yesterday in
Wyoming who is on the job, working without a paycheck, saying: How am I
going to go to the grocery store? How am I going to put food on the
table? How am I going to help make sure my child gets to eat?
That is what we have with the Democrat Party today.
We know that 42 million Americans may soon lose food stamps as a
result of the Democrats' obstruction and keeping the government closed.
Flight safety is also at risk because of staffing shortages. Some
Democrats are saying they won't open the government unless ``planes are
falling from the skies.'' That is from a Democrat staffer, who may be
somebody who is in this Chamber right now but who works with the
Democrats right here in the U.S. Senate.
Through it all, Senator Schumer gloats to the press. He says:
Every day gets better for us.
Who the heck is ``us''? It is not the American people. He has to be
talking about the Democrats because it is certainly not getting better
for men and women all across the country--the people who are going to
work without pay because the Democrats have shut down the government.
It is not the Border Patrol agents, who aren't getting paid. It is not
the air traffic controllers, who are missing their paychecks. It is not
military families, who are now lining up at food banks.
I look around, and I see on every day of the Senate Schumer shutdown
a day that is actually worse for the American people.
Now, two in three Americans in a recent poll say they see the
Democrat Party as weak. Every day this shutdown continues, Democrats
are proving Americans right.
It is time for the Democrats to end this dangerous political game
that they are playing. It is a game for them, and it is dangerous, and
it is hurting people.
Republicans are committed to reopening the government, to paying the
Federal workers, and to putting American families first. It is time for
the Democrats to join us.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority whip.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, my friend and colleague from Wyoming
believes that he knows who was in the streets last Saturday. I don't
know where he was, but I was in the streets of Chicago. We estimate
over 100,000 people were there. Were they the Marxists? the radical
left? the anti-police? the pro-criminal? No. They represent the
families of the State of Illinois who believe that the situation with
this government is unfair to them, and I agree.
Why is this government shut down? It is basically an issue that goes
to the heart of why we occupy these chairs, why we run for these
offices.
Are we listening to the people who send us to Washington? If we are
listening, they are telling us that something is about to happen to
them that they cannot manage and control. What is it? It is that health
insurance policy costs are going to go up dramatically.
On January 1, those costs are going to go up an average of 114
percent. That means double--double--your health insurance premium. Now,
some people are comfortable and well-off, and they can live with it,
but others cannot. That is the bottom line.
When you look at what happened here--the passage of the big,
beautiful Trump budget--it ended up eliminating a tax credit that was
available for people in middle-income categories to pay for health
insurance. We know that is going to happen.
In my State of Illinois, on October 27--just a few days from now--
everyone who is in the Affordable Care Act is going to receive notice
of the increase in premiums--like I said, an increase of 114 percent.
So if you are paying $1,000 a month for health insurance now, on
January 1, it goes up to $2,000 a month. That is the kind of thing that
people have to cope with. We want to save them from that. All we ask is
that Congress do its job.
Listen to the people you represent back home who are going to tell
you: You just added a burden on my home budget that we can't handle.
Senator, do something to help.
That is not unreasonable. I have done this job for a few years. Many
people come to us asking for help, just like this.
How many people across America are going to be affected by this
increase in premiums--this dramatic increase in premiums? Some say 24
million people--24 million people.
We say, on the Democratic side of the aisle, we were sent here to fix
it. Let's fix it. When we say that to the Republicans, they say: We
would rather shut down the government.
Shut down the government? It was your vote that created this premium
increase.
Can't you join us now, Democrats and Republicans, and fix it?
Of course we can, and we ought to do it as quickly as possible.
Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the Presidency, but
our government has been shut down for 21 days over this issue. We have
taken show vote after show vote on the Republican-crafted plan to fund
the government. All of them have failed.
There is an obvious way out of this. I have been in Congress for a
few years, and I know how this problem is solved. It is when people of
good will sit down at the same table. There are thousands of pieces of
furniture in this Capitol Building and lots of tables and chairs. Why
is it we can't sit down and do it?
One of the problems is that the House of Representatives has gone
AWOL; it has gone on vacation. I believe this is the fourth week that
they have stayed on vacation instead of coming to Washington to help
solve this problem. How do you explain that? How do you explain men and
women elected to the House of Representatives who face a looming
deadline on the increase of health insurance who don't even show up for
work?
I talked to a number of Democratic Congressmen this morning. They
said that you can't explain it. Everyone on the committee has important
work to do, but the Speaker of the House refuses to call them back.
As for the Republicans in the Senate, well, today is going to be a
spectacular day for them, I guess. They have been invited to a
meeting--maybe even a lunch--in the Rose Garden of the White House with
the President. If one or two of them would break off of that lunch and
sit down with one or two Democrats, maybe we could start the
conversation to solve this problem--and it is a real problem.
In Illinois, a 60-year-old couple with an income of $82,000 a year
can see their annual health insurance premiums increase by $17,000 a
year--more than 254 percent. That is $1,400 more a month for health
insurance starting on January 1. A family of four earning $64,000 could
see their annual premium increase by $2,571 a year. That is a 226-
percent increase.
We ought to be concerned about that; we ought to care about it a lot
more than any political position. Ask any American if they can afford
to pay double for their healthcare insurance, and most of them will
tell you that they can't.
These looming premium spikes are causing Americans to panic. Don't
take my word for it; listen to the people I represent.
Karissa wrote and said that she has chronic conditions and takes
several medications every single day. Karissa gets cancer screenings
several times a year for breast and GI cancer because she is at risk,
but if Republicans allow the increased premium tax credits to expire,
Karissa said that she ``won't be able to continue those [treatments].''
Think about that. What a choice to make--your money or your life.
What is going to happen if she is not able to get screened for cancer?
Karissa may
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have been able to prevent a serious issue early on by that screening,
but now she may not know until it has progressed and costs even more to
treat, if it can be treated at all--all because of this political
difference wherein Republicans in Congress say that her health
insurance premiums, even though they are unaffordable, are not a worry
to them.
Ingrid from Springfield wrote to me, and she said she is ``in
distress'' because she is afraid she won't be able to afford her
medical treatment next year. She has a disability. She is retired. She
struggles to pay a mortgage, utilities, student loans, and other debts.
Ingrid is also fighting cancer right now and needs ongoing medical
treatment. When she checked her health insurance premium for next year,
her jaw dropped. Ingrid wrote that all the options were quite
impossible for her. The cheapest option for her health insurance came
with a $1,400 a month premium and a $14,000 deductible. Ingrid is
worried that she may lose her home just to pay for basic coverage.
No American should be forced to choose between their home and
healthcare, their money or their life, but if my Republican colleagues
continue to ignore this issue, more Americans are going to be facing
just that decision starting this next year.
If Republicans in Congress fail to extend the enhanced premium tax
credit before the end of the year, premiums for 22 million Americans
will more than double. If we do nothing, premiums for 22 million
Americans will more than double, and more than 4 million Americans will
become uninsured, including more than 100,000 people in Illinois.
What is it like to live without health insurance? I faced that at one
point in my life. I never want to face it again. It is a horrible
feeling.
This isn't rocket science. Republicans do not have 60 votes in the
Senate to pass their partisan bill that fails to do anything to lower
healthcare costs. They must work with Democrats to fund the government
and to prevent Ingrid, Karissa, and millions of other Americans from
losing their healthcare. We can do that today. Instead of a vacation
for the House and a picnic for Senate Republicans, we should be sitting
down to get to work.
Senator Thune and Speaker Johnson need to go not to the picnic table
at the White House but come to the table to bargain and do it sooner
rather than later. Instead, Senate Republicans are heading to the White
House for lunch. I am sure it will be nice, but if a couple of them
could peel off and actually sit down and bargain, that would be a much
better day for America.
It is unfathomable that Speaker Johnson has chosen to give the House
a 5-week vacation amid this crisis. House Republicans must return to
Washington and go to work or they will have to explain to an
increasingly large group of constituents why health insurance premiums
have doubled under the Republican leadership in Congress.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Waiving Quorum Calls
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the
mandatory quorum calls with respect to the Moe and Mercer nominations
be waived.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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