[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 13, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S147-S152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5,
UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE &
MEDICAID SERVICES RELATING TO ``PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE
ACT; MARKETPLACE INTEGRITY AND AFFORDABILITY''--Motion to Proceed
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 293,
S.J. Res 84.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 293, S.J. Res. 84, a
joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval
under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule
submitted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
relating to ``Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act;
Marketplace Integrity and Affordability''.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today because I think it is
painfully clear that we need to do something to address the growing
healthcare crisis in this country.
Let me be clear at the outset that when we talk about the CRA that
the clerk just reported, it is not directly related--it is not the tax
credit issue that has been the subject of an enormous amount of other
debate and, frankly, action in the House but a CRA that will be voted
on later today that will overturn a rule that the Trump administration
has put forward that will result in 1.8 million Americans being thrown
off their health insurance.
It is beyond the tax credit issue. It is beyond the Medicaid changes.
This is a rule that the administration set forward last year that adds
enormous amounts of regulatory burden for any American who chooses to
access the so-called ObamaCare Marketplace.
The truth is, this administration's attack on the Marketplace,
ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act didn't start with this rule. As we
all know in this Chamber, this is just another step in a now close to
15-year crusade by many of my Republican colleagues to undermine the
ACA, which, at the end of the day, is just going to--as we have seen
already--is going to increase healthcare costs for everybody.
We know that at the end of last year, as the expiration of the ACA
enhanced premium tax credits approached, Democrats in Congress worked
hard to try to extend them. We put forward a strong, compromised
proposal to extend the credits and keep health insurance affordable for
the close to 24 million Americans who access their healthcare through
the Marketplace.
Unfortunately, time and again, Republicans voted against it, ensuring
that when the clock struck midnight on January 1, millions of Americans
were priced out of that coverage. Families across the country have now
been hit with premium increases of $800, $900, and even over $1,000 per
month.
Somebody in my State of Virginia--Kathleen, a mother of two and a
small business owner living in Newport News, saw her premium for her
family of four increase from 544 bucks a month to over $1,500 a month.
That is a yearly increase of about $11,500 a year--a pricetag that her
family just can't afford. She told me she came up to the Hill before
New Year's hit and that she hoped and prayed for a solution.
Frankly, I wish all of my Republican colleagues who helped block that
solution could have explained to her why blocking that solution, which
we offered as a straightforward extension of the ACA premium tax
credits--why they blocked that, because Kathleen and so many other
families desperately needed it.
I will have to say I have to give some rare congratulations to at
least 17 Members of the House, Republican Members of the House, which
had actually taken action recently to address this crisis. Seventeen
House Republicans finally said enough is enough and voted with
Democrats in the House to extend the credits, which will again lower
the costs for millions.
I hope that we can get a similar type of compromise through in the
Senate. I know there are colleagues on both sides of the aisle working
hard on that issue right now.
While the credits have taken up most of the space around the debate,
what I rise today on--the CRA that will be voted on this afternoon--
will provide an even more immediate solution to at least take away
another barrier to healthcare accessibility and affordability.
I am asking my colleagues--and I will be joined by other colleagues
to talk about this over the next hour or so--I am asking my colleagues
to join me in disapproving a harmful rule that the Trump administration
finalized last year that was set to kick in at the end of 2025. As I
mentioned, that would take about 1.8 to 2 million people off their
healthcare because of the enormous administrative burdens that are put
in place by this administrative rule to try to get access to the
Marketplace.
This is at least a chance today--not at some future date--to come
together to do the bare minimum and address at least a small part of
the emergency straining our healthcare system.
Now, I will acknowledge that because this administrative burden is so
burdensome, the courts have paused its enactment, but at any moment,
that pause could be taken away.
So let's just use the CRA, which has been used by both sides of the
aisle repeatedly, to get rid of this additional burden because, simply
put, this harmful Trump rule makes it harder to enroll in a Marketplace
plan, harder to stay on a Marketplace plan, and harder and more
expensive for States to run a Marketplace.
The rule requires increased paperwork for families, reduces open and
special enrollment periods, and allows insurers to push more healthcare
costs on Americans by allowing plans to cover less care. That also adds
a ton more paperwork and burdens on the marketplaces all across the
country.
Again, according to the Trump administration's own document, these
added barriers and higher premiums will lead to that estimate of at
least 1.8 million people losing coverage if this rule--which is, again,
scheduled to go into effect but has only not gone into effect in 2026
because of a current pause by the courts.
But I think we ought to avoid this cliff and just act today as a
Senate and say: Let's not have this rule take effect.
I think most of us would agree that 2025 was not a great year for
healthcare in this country. Medicaid cuts, which are going to be
enormous, which, frankly, were not scheduled to kick in until after the
2026 elections, interestingly enough--although I can tell you we have
already seen rural healthcare clinics close in Virginia because of that
expectation--and my colleagues' refusal to extend the enhanced premium
tax credits are all weighing down on our healthcare system, and we are
seeing rural hospitals and rural healthcare centers really bear the
brunt of this.
The truth is, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans
have jammed through healthcare policies that, combined with the rule
and the tax premiums--minimum, looks like about 15 million Americans
will get kicked off their health insurance.
So let's go back. My Republican colleagues and the President won in
2024 because they said they are going to lower costs. We can actually
take action on lowering costs today. So let's join together, use the
CRA tool, and end this policy. All you have to do is vote for the
Congressional Review Act resolution making sure the number--not my
number; the Trump administration's number--the 1.8 million Americans
will actually get to keep their healthcare. All you have to do is vote
for this CRA resolution so that folks don't have to deal with
enormously burdensome paperwork and the higher costs that result.
Now, I think we can get this done. We have seen my Republican
colleagues stand up to the President on the Epstein files, on war
powers, and just in the last day or so, the attack on
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the independence of the Federal Reserve. Let's have that pushback
extend now to healthcare costs. Let's help millions keep their
healthcare today and then work together toward a long-term, sustainable
plan to keep healthcare costs stable for the next decade.
Before I yield the floor, I want to also acknowledge--this is
something a lot of us have been working on. Senator Klobuchar does such
a great job on so many issues. Senator Wyden, the leader on the Finance
Committee--they and others will come today to speak on this issue as
well.
I hope my colleagues are listening, and I hope they will actually
acknowledge that we have to bring healthcare costs down today. This
isn't a full solution, but at least it is an action that we can take
today.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Warner for his
tremendous leadership on this important issue that is just really
tormenting so many Americans right now--as well as Senator Wyden.
This involves tens of millions of Americans who are facing a
healthcare crisis. Their premiums are doubling or tripling, and it is
completely in our hands to do something about it.
Open enrollment is ending in 2 days. Americans across the country are
looking at their budgets and facing this difficult choice of whether to
pay double or triple for coverage or go uninsured.
Why are tens of millions of Americans facing this reality? Well,
because congressional Republicans failed to act, to come to the table
to negotiate an extension of the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax
credits before the end of last year.
Last Thursday, the House passed legislation to extend these
healthcare tax credits for 3 years. Seventeen Republicans joined
Democrats. You think about it, they could have done that months ago--
months ago. We were willing to negotiate with them 3 years, 2 years, 1
year at the time. They wouldn't do anything. And now they have
realized--I guess they didn't understand what was happening to their
constituents when 20-some percent of farmers and ranchers are on these
kinds of policies and 75 percent of them are in red States.
The legislation that Senator Warner and Senator Wyden proposed is
simple and reasonable. We are simply saying: Let's make sure the same
tax credits that made care more accessible for tens of millions of
Americans yesterday and last year and the year before that continue to
be there for families this year. Americans are looking for us to act,
and the time to act is now.
I have heard from people across my State in what is a very, very
difficult time right now in the State of Minnesota. With the arrival of
ICE on our streets, with people terrified, with the chaos that has
ensued, we are still hearing from people about healthcare all the time.
Nicci from Waseca wrote to me that the healthcare premium for her and
her husband almost tripled from $862 a month to $2,344, which, over the
course of the year, is more than her annual salary. She called the
increase ``insufferable.''
Nadine from Sartell, a 53-year-old single mom, shared that she has a
master's degree in social work but lives nearly paycheck to paycheck
now because her housing and utility costs eat up over half of her
monthly income, and unless Congress renews the healthcare tax credits,
she is not going to be able to purchase healthcare because there are
only 2 days left. And here is the kicker: Just 4 months ago, she was
diagnosed with breast cancer. She has already used up nearly all she
has in savings for the copays and coinsurance to get a diagnosis and
receive treatment.
Another constituent, a schoolbus driver named David, saw his premiums
double. He is now spending 12 percent of his total pretax income on
health insurance. David wrote:
It's difficult and frustrating to see life crumble before
your eyes. Just trying to get ahead and just to find setbacks
waiting for you. I would like Congress to actually sit in
real life people's shoes for just a while to see how it
feels. I hope we can get something changed.
That is a busdriver in Minnesota begging our colleagues on the other
side of the aisle to stand and sit in his shoes, because if Congress
can't fix this, David shared with me that even though he works full
time, he will have to give up his health insurance entirely.
The rules that Senator Warner and Senator Wyden and others of us have
suggested do away with the caps that limit how much of their income
people like David must spend on health insurance, and so as we work to
extend the healthcare tax credits, it is critical that we stop the
administration from further undermining the Affordable Care Act and
raising costs.
And this just isn't happening in my State. As I know, three-quarters
of the people who get their health coverage on this ACA Marketplace
live in States that President Trump won. We know the stakes, and we
must come together to solve this affordability crisis. And I will note
that the amount of money given to Argentina was approximately the same
amount it would take to fix this for 1 year.
There is a lot more work to be done to lower healthcare costs:
Medicare drug price negotiations that I have led for years and making
sure that is really happening under this administration, reforming
prior authorization, making improvements, public option. We can go on
and on and on.
But, right now, we have one crisis that is hitting so many Americans,
and we have a way to fix it. So I urge my Republican colleagues to join
us to stop Americans' healthcare premiums from skyrocketing, and simply
bring to the Senate floor and pass the bipartisan House-passed bill to
extend the healthcare tax credits that Americans rely on, and, of
course, to vote for S.J. Res. 84, which is in front of us today. And we
thank Senator Warner and Senator Wyden for leading the effort.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, before she leaves the floor, I just want to
say that the Senator from Minnesota has been relentless in terms of
standing up for folks who are just trying to get a fair shake on their
premiums. I have been doing this since my days with the Gray Panthers,
and I know what it means to be persistent. That defines Senator
Klobuchar, and I thank her.
I am pleased to be working with Senator Warner and Senator Ossoff--
and I see Senator Kaine here--because all of us want to make sure we
lower healthcare costs for American families.
Today, the Senate is going to vote to repeal a host of damaging
policies that Donald Trump, Robert Kennedy, and Dr. Oz have unleashed
on Americans who are unsuspecting. People are just trying to get by in
tough times and are going to get hammered, and from the day Donald
Trump was sworn in, this administration made attacking Americans'
healthcare their top priority.
Last summer, Republicans in Congress rammed through a massive bill to
give tax breaks to billionaires and giant corporations, while making
the largest healthcare cuts in American history.
At the same time, the Trump administration used the Byzantine Federal
rulemaking process to double down on these efforts by finalizing the
rule that all of us on this side of the aisle are working to repeal
today. The harmful changes made by the Trump administration come down
to one proposition: It is OK to have more redtape, and it is just fine
to increase healthcare costs.
That is the exact opposite of our agenda, which is to focus on
affordability and making the American healthcare system simpler.
I am going to just tick through a couple of the worst examples to
illustrate why these rules need to be junked.
First, the Trump rules will increase what American families have to
pay out of pocket each year by nearly $1,000. So the question becomes:
What is the purpose behind that change, other than to take money from
Americans who are already struggling?
The rule adds new fees, such as a new reenrollment fee that applies
to low-income workers. To be clear, that means, if you want to keep
your health insurance, you have got to pay a fee to the government just
for the right to keep what you have got. Even by Washington, DC,
standards--I say to my friend from Montana--that just defies common
sense.
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They also create mandatory minimum premiums that are going to cause
millions to lose their coverage.
Now, Republicans say that these fees are aimed at reducing fraud.
There is just no evidence to back it up. My view has been, ever since
my days with the Gray Panthers, and my friend from Virginia knows about
this--I say any fraud--any fraud--is too much. But the numbers are
clear. The vast majority of fraud in healthcare is conducted by shady
insurance brokers who are looking to make a fast buck through
commissions from phony enrollments, not working Americans looking to
buy healthcare.
So I have introduced legislation to create tough, criminal penalties
for these insurance brokers. So make no mistake about it, Senator
Kaine, there is something we ought to be doing to root out fraud. Let's
go after these insurance brokers with tough criminal penalties.
I have been talking to Republicans to ask them to join as cosponsors,
and they haven't been willing, really, to give us the time of day.
Instead of going after fraud where it exists, Donald Trump and
Republicans create barriers that are going to trip up Americans trying
to navigate a healthcare system that is just too complicated.
Beyond fees and higher premiums, the Trump rule also adds new
verification checks and enrollment rules that amount to an enormous
heap of redtape. These redtape measures, according to authorities who
have analyzed them, are going to create 15 million hours of paperwork,
and 1.8 million people are going to lose their coverage as they try to
navigate this never-never land of a maze of healthcare rules.
These types of changes are right out of the playbook of Big Insurance
because they create barriers and bureaucratic hurdles so they can keep
more of your money while denying working families basic healthcare.
It is no secret that Americans are fed up with a healthcare system
that gets in their way at every turn. It is time for Republicans to do
the right thing and join with Democrats to lower Americans' healthcare
costs, instead of creating new cost barriers and redtape restrictions.
They can help those families by voting with us today.
I urge my colleagues to support Senator Warner, Senator Ossoff,
Senator Klobuchar, and Senator Kaine. We are all here for one purpose:
less bureaucracy, less redtape, lowering premiums for families.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I am glad to join my colleagues to talk
about the upcoming vote on S.J. Res. 84, the use of the Congressional
Review Act to strike down a recent regulatory attack on the Affordable
Care Act launched by the Trump administration.
I think my colleagues have done a pretty good job of explaining what
is at stake. Even the Trump administration's own experts at CMS, the
Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, say that implementation of
this rule could lead up to 1.8 million people to lose health insurance
just this year, 2026. That would be devastating.
On top of the premium increases that people have seen because the
Affordable Care Act extended tax credits were not extended when tax
cuts for the wealthiest were extended, this additional burden on this
1.8 million-person population is unacceptable, and the vote we will
cast today gives us all an opportunity to sort of shore up the
healthcare network for those nearly 2 million people.
I wanted to focus, in particular, on the kind of person who is really
going to be affected by the Trump rule if we do not affirmatively
embrace this Congressional Review Act resolution, and that is self-
employed entrepreneurs and gig workers.
You know, one of the challenges about the American healthcare system
before the Affordable Care Act was it was very, very difficult to buy
health insurance if you were an individual entrepreneur, if you had a
very small business.
Without exchanges and the offering of policies on the exchanges with
premium support for those who were lower or middle income, you had a
lot of people who were self-employed entrepreneurs who couldn't buy
insurance at all, and then you also had a huge group of people working
with companies that had insurance that had this great American dream of
an idea to start their own business, but they couldn't do it because if
they were to leave their large employer to go off and follow their
dream, they couldn't get health insurance.
And one of the very salutary effects of the ACA, through the creation
of exchanges with premium support, has been to enable people to pursue
their dream and become innovators or entrepreneurs or gig workers and
work in the way and in the flexible circumstance they choose. And I
speak from experience because two of my three kids fit into this
category.
The rule that has been put in place by the Trump administration isn't
going to make it particularly hard for large group plans to just re-up
insurance, but it will make it very hard for those individuals that
don't have an HR department fighting for them, that have to figure it
out all on their own. It will make it very hard for them to negotiate
the marketplace and buy insurance.
And, sometimes, their income is up, and, sometimes, their income is
down. And, sometimes, they want to enroll, and, at other times, they
don't. It is precisely this kind of person that is going to be hit the
hardest by the Trump rule and why I am so strongly in support of my
colleagues' efforts to repeal it.
You know, we often say--and I will conclude--that small businesses
and startups are the backbones of the American economy, and they are. I
grew up in a house with a dad who worked for a huge company, and it was
his dream to start his own business. And he bought a little iron
working shop that, at the time that he bought it, had like four
employees. And during the entire growing-up period when I worked in my
Dad's shop, in a good year, it would be seven employees, and in a bad
year, it would be four, plus my mom and my two brothers and me.
So many American businesses are just like this. They are one or two
employees. They are somebody who even has another gig, maybe as an
artist, and they are moonlighting in some area where they can make just
enough to afford to buy health insurance on the exchange, if we don't
crush them with high premiums and if we don't make the paperwork
burdens so substantial.
The CRA that my colleagues are offering will be directly responsive
to the needs of this very, very important group of American innovators
and entrepreneurs. And that is why I so strongly support it and urge my
colleagues to do the same.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Curtis). The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Stop Illegal Aliens Drunk Driving Act
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, my Republican colleagues and I spent a
great deal of time this Congress focused on securing justice for
victims of crimes committed by illegal aliens.
Unfortunately, during the last administration, the Biden
administration was completely what I would call willfully blind to the
threat posed by people coming unvetted across our borders.
From Laken Riley, to Kayla Hamilton, to Jocelyn Nungaray, the victims
of illegal aliens are numerous and must not be forgotten. What makes
these tragedies so heartbreaking is the knowledge that many of these
victims could have lived but for the Biden administration's open border
policies and its failure to act responsibly and enforce the law. These
good Americans died at the hands of criminal aliens who should never
have set foot in our country.
But there is another category of illegal alien criminals who perhaps
are not so widely known, largely because the mainstream media outlets
refuse to report on the many heinous crimes committed by illegal aliens
each year. These are individuals who have endangered Americans by drunk
driving.
Every 42 minutes, someone dies in a crash involving alcohol. As we
have seen in the news, many of these crashes
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have been caused by illegal aliens who jeopardize the safety of law-
abiding Americans. They have killed or severely maimed U.S. citizens
and other lawful residents, depriving families of their loved ones and
causing untold human misery. Some of these aliens have driven with
expired licenses, suspended licenses, or no license at all and have
shown complete disregard for the danger this may pose.
Last January, two college students in Illinois named Katie Abraham
and Chloe Polzin were killed in a hit-and-run crash involving an
illegal alien who was drunk driving. Their killer, an illegal alien
from Guatemala, was charged with leaving the scene of a crash resulting
in death, aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol, and
reckless homicide.
Last October, Secretary Noem highlighted more than 140 illegal alien
truckdrivers who were arrested in Northwest Indiana during Operation
Midway Blitz. These aliens were found guilty of numerous crimes,
including driving under the influence, drug trafficking, theft,
burglary, assault, child abuse, domestic battery, prostitution, and
fraud. More than 40 of them had been issued a commercial driver's
license by States like California, Illinois, and New York. It is clear
that these States are not conducting due diligence if they are issuing
commercial driver's licenses to illegal aliens who threaten the safety
of American citizens on our roads and highways.
Of course, Texans have not been spared the harm committed by such
aliens, as we saw in the case of Arturo Cruz-Badillo. Cruz-Badillo is a
Mexican national who had seven--seven--DWI convictions, a conviction
for battery, and was removed from the United States three separate
times. But despite all of these criminal convictions and removal for
illegal entry in the United States, he was once again found reentering
illegally last August, hiding in a commercial cargo trailer. He was
sentenced to jail earlier this year for his crimes.
On top of the revolving door of removals because of how different
States treat DUI and DWI offenses, some aliens are convicted multiple
times but never removed from the United States.
As recently as last month, ICE arrested 118 illegal aliens in
California, including pedophiles, burglars, domestic abusers, and
serial drunk drivers. One of these offenders had four separate DUI
convictions, including one that caused bodily injury. He was also
convicted of driving with a suspended driver's license. Another was
convicted of a DUI, a hit-and-run, and driving without a license. Yet
another was convicted of causing injury to a child, a hit-and-run
causing property damage, and two DUIs, driving under the influence.
Finally, one of these criminals was convicted of DUI causing great
bodily injury, a hit-and-run causing property damage, and a separate
DUI.
Consider how devastating a car accident can be even if there are no
physical injuries. These accidents cause not only bodily injury but
property damage to a person's car, and it must either be repaired or
replaced, often costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
In the case of a hit-and-run, the situation is even more difficult
because the victim cannot get the insurance information, if it exists,
from the driver at fault in order to have the damage paid for.
For the one in four American households who lives paycheck to
paycheck, an unexpected car accident might mean having to choose
between repairing their car or paying their rent.
Of course, if the driver at fault is an illegal alien, it is more
likely to be a hit-and-run because they don't want to be detained or
deported. And even if they are caught, they are not likely to have
insurance.
As a father of two daughters, I believe the danger illegal aliens
pose to the safety of Americans is simply unacceptable. It ought to be
unacceptable to all of us and not tolerated. For this reason, I am
introducing the Stop Illegal Aliens Drunk Driving Act to address this
discrepancy in Federal law where these DUIs--repetitive driving under
the influence, driving while intoxicated--are simply winked at or
ignored.
This bill would make DUI and DWI offenses that result in death or
bodily injury an aggravated felony under the Immigration and
Nationality Act. Aggravated felons are subject to mandatory detention.
They are also ineligible for most immigration benefits.
Furthermore, this bill would ensure that any illegal alien removed
from the United States as an aggravated felon due to a DUI or DWI who
attempts to reenter illegally is subject to a penalty of up to 20 years
in prison.
Americans deserve to be safe while driving on our roads. Parents
should not have to worry, when they give their 16-year-old the keys to
the car--who has learned how to drive or is just getting their first
driver's license--they shouldn't have to worry whether an illegal alien
driving under the influence of alcohol is going to cause them bodily
harm or kill them outright.
We simply cannot continue the status quo of allowing aliens who
entered our country illegally or were allowed by the Biden
administration's open border policies and who decide to drive drunk or
under the influence--we can't allow them to continue to endanger the
American public in this way. For this reason, I hope all of my
colleagues will join me and support the Stop Illegal Aliens Drunk
Driving Act.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to be able to
complete my remarks before the scheduled recess.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Healthcare
Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise today because this President is
poised to strip away healthcare from American families again. If
Congress doesn't act to pass this measure, Americans will be forced to
jump through more hoops just to get health insurance, and 1.8 million
Americans will lose their coverage.
This is just more of the same from Republicans and the President.
Donald Trump and Republicans have spent over a decade trying to repeal
the Affordable Care Act entirely, with no plan to replace it. When they
haven't been able to repeal it wholesale, Republicans have looked for
ways to attack and weaken the Affordable Care Act from the inside out.
And this is just what the administration did with this rule. They are
chipping away at the Affordable Care Act and taking away healthcare
from Wisconsin families.
While President Trump works out his concept of a plan, Republicans
still have no real proposal on healthcare. Even if they could repeal
the Affordable Care Act, they have nothing to protect the 24 million
Americans who got coverage on healthcare.gov from being simply kicked
off their insurance.
``Concepts of a plan'' simply are not good enough for the people that
I represent. They deserve better. In fact, they need some breathing
room and lower costs.
Instead of meeting families where they are and lowering costs,
Republicans are taking us in the wrong direction. At the start of this
year, 22 million Americans saw their premiums go up in 2026 because
Republicans refused to extend tax breaks to help families afford their
healthcare.
Behind every 1 of those 22 million Americans is a story--a family
forced to make impossible choices about finances, their health, and
their future. I am talking about folks like Nancy and John from Park
Falls, WI, whose premiums were set to increase by over $2,000 each
month in 2026.
Nancy wrote to me:
This is absolutely unaffordable!! Literally we cannot pay
this. We would have to sell our home and our vehicles in
order to just come up with the money to do that.
Another constituent from Barron County, WI, wrote to me sharing that
without the tax breaks, he would have to spend over 40 percent--get
that: 40 percent--of his income on health insurance alone just to
ensure his wife could continue to get her treatment for her breast
cancer.
I also heard from Eric and his wife in Menomonie, WI. They both
retired from teaching after 30 years and are still not yet eligible for
Medicare. He
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wrote to me that they were seriously considering going without any
health insurance since paying close to $3,000 a month on a fixed income
might just break the bank.
Republicans ran out the clock on helping families like these, and the
final window to get coverage for this year ends in just 2 days on
January 15. How many Americans like Eric or Nancy are being forced to
give up their health insurance this year? How many more will consider
selling their houses or their cars just to make sure that they can
afford sometimes lifesaving care?
Now, on top of this, the Trump administration is pushing a rule to
kick even more families off of their healthcare. The rule we are
talking about today would shorten the open enrollment periods and
introduce much more redtape, locking eligible families out of getting
their health insurance.
We should be making it easier, not harder, for Americans to see a
doctor. We should be making healthcare more affordable, not more
expensive.
Over the past year, I have talked to countless constituents who are
sick and tired of Republicans' constant attacks on their healthcare.
Instead of spending time coming up with new ways to kick Americans
off Affordable Care Act plans, I urge my Republican colleagues to help
us reverse this disastrous rule and actually start working with us to
fix our broken healthcare system.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to complete my
remarks prior to the scheduled recess.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Islamic Extremists
Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, for months, I have been raising the
alarm over radical Islam infiltrating the greatest country on the face
of the Earth, the United States of America.
Some Americans see what is happening in Europe, and they think, would
that ever happen in our country? The reality is, yes. It is happening
right now, right before our very eyes. The enemy is now inside the
gates.
There are plenty of Muslims that come here, love this country,
assimilate into American culture, and they have a duty to join in the
fight and speak out against the mainstream media and elected officials
who are empowering radical Islam to take a foothold in the United
States of America.
Governor Kathy Hochul of New York welcomed in the new year by
declaring January as Muslim American Heritage Month. To red-blooded
American patriots' dismay, Hochul directed State landmarks, including
the iconic skyline of New York City, to be lit in the color Islamic
green.
What makes the situation even worse is that One World Trade Center
was also lit up in Islamic green, as you see here--the exact location
where Islamic terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers on September
11, 2001, killing thousands of innocent Americans. You know, this was a
slap in the face of the families of the nearly 3,000 victims who were
murdered and the thousands injured on that very, very tragic day.
I never thought I would see something like this in my lifetime. But
for years, the radical left, the globalists, and the deep state have
colluded to destroy this country and have found a way to flood our
communities with third-world Muslims whose only goal is not to
assimilate but to destroy the West and create a worldwide caliphate. If
you don't understand what that looks like, just take a look at Europe.
Under Barack Obama and Joe Biden, our Federal Government imported
millions of foreigners who hate America, enabling them to live on
welfare and forcing American taxpayers to pay the bills.
New York City's recent mayoral election reveals how easily a Muslim
communist can come to power in our Nation's most iconic city. You know,
foreign-born, communist mayor Zohran Mamdani polled 62 percent of
support from foreign-born voters in New York. They weren't born in the
State of New York. They weren't born in our country. Sixty-two percent
of them supported him. Only 30 percent of American-born voters voted
for him.
Under Joe Biden, millions of illegal aliens, including terrorists,
murders, and rapists, were planted there to completely destroy the
freedom-loving voter base, all on purpose. As a result, a foreign-born,
Muslim communist who hates the greatest Nation on Earth and wants to
change it is now in power.
During his inaugural ceremony, commie Mamdani used two Qurans for his
swearing-in ceremony, not the Bible. He used a book that advocates for
the killing of all who don't believe in Islam or refuse to follow
Islamic teachings. He was also sworn in at an abandoned subway--a
subway station symbolizing what New York City will soon look like when
freedom-loving Americans flee for their lives and Sharia law becomes
the rule of law in the five boroughs in New York City.
New York City, the symbol of liberty and freedom in the new world, is
now turning into the same oppressive hellhole freedom-loving immigrants
have fled from for centuries. They have been running from it. But now
we are changing into that same situation.
The deep state hasn't wasted any time in 2026 to accelerate its
globalist agenda to destroy this country. And if we don't do something
to stop this Islamic takeover of our country, we will soon be called
the United Caliphate of America. That means Christians, Jews, and
anyone else who doesn't convert to Islam will be prosecuted and
persecuted. It will be acceptable for young girls and women to be
raped, and Islamic terrorism and violence will become the norm.
Thankfully, President Trump and his administration are working day
and night to save this country through mass deportation, revoking
immigrant visas, and implementing travel bans on majority-Muslim
countries that support the radical Islam crowds who chant ``Death to
America.''
We continue to see more evidence come out of Muslim third world
foreigners defrauding American people of their hard-earned tax dollars.
Thanks to independent journalist Nick Shirley, more and more fraud from
Somali immigrants in Minnesota who are pretending to use the money to
feed children or help people with autism is being exposed every day
now.
In a recent hearing in the House Committee on Oversight and Reform,
testimony from a Minnesota State representative claimed that U.S.
attorney Joe Thompson estimates that the total amount of criminal fraud
to this point, after 5 years, has reached $9 billion. That is billion
with a ``b.''
Minnesota's attorney general said this weekend on CNN in an interview
that, you know, the fraud estimation is not a serious thing and that is
just political theater.
That is expensive political theater.
A statement like that is not only an insult to many, many
Minnesotans, but it is also a slap in the face to the hard-working
taxpayers of this country. What is taking place in Minnesota is pure
evil, and it is straight from the pit of Hell.
It is impressive to me that a 23-year-old independent journalist did
more to serve the American people with investigative reporting than the
so-called experts in the legacy media. Where are they?
The fake news is complicit with the radical Islamic takeover of the
United States, and they are in on the scam on the American taxpayers.
Thanks to Nick Shirley's efforts, more fraud is being exposed in
other States.
FOX News recently reported that Somalia's Permanent Representative to
the United Nations, now serving as President of the U.N. Security
Council, is linked to an Ohio home healthcare agency that has
previously been punished for its ties to massive fraud.
There are other reports surfacing about Somalia's Minister of Foreign
Affairs running a healthcare company in Toledo, OH, who has a business
partner that works for a Somali money transfer service which has been
accused of financing Islamic terrorism.
You can't make this up. It goes on and on. So here is more. For
months, a new publication in the State of Maine known as the Maine Wire
reported on a similar event taking place in Lewiston, ME, also known
today as Little Mogadishu. Gateway Community Services, founded by a
Somalian refugee, received $28.8 million in MaineCare payments between
2019 and 2024--$28 million. Last year, a whistleblower came forward
alleging that the organization systematically defrauded the
[[Page S152]]
MaineCare Program for the last 5 years. Thanks to the hard work of the
Trump administration, funding has stopped, and the organization is
under severe investigation.
As more of this comes to light, a couple facts are becoming more and
more apparent. No. 1, third world foreigners from predominantly Muslim
countries are coming here and stealing American tax dollars while they
spew anti-American rhetoric. No. 2, Democratic elected officials seem
to be complicit in helping foreigners who hate this country steal from
their own constituents, their own people who vote for them.
The enemies of our country are robbing American citizens in broad
daylight, while the cost-of-living standards in our country skyrocket
higher than they should be, and healthcare premiums go up year after
year. That should make every single American's blood boil.
But Democrats have invited terrorists from countries that hate us.
They steal our benefits. They enjoy our schools, overrun our hospitals,
vote in our elections, and then steal our tax dollars and send them
back to the country they came from, where they can fund terrorism.
Thankfully, we have a President who loves this country and is going
to change it. President Trump and his administration are working around
the clock to halt immigration and to stop fraudulent schemes that were
allowed to take place under Joe Biden.
Patriotic Americans are thankful for the work of DHS and ICE and what
they are doing to clean up our streets--at a cost. DHS and ICE agents
have been targeted by radicals because they are enforcing the law--what
a thought. And I will continue to support law enforcement until every
single illegal is out of this country and comes here the right way.
If you are going to interfere in law enforcement's ability to do
their jobs, folks, in any way, don't be surprised if you are arrested
and thrown into jail--and you should be.
Thanks to investigative reporters like Nick Shirley and folks at the
Maine Wire, we are slowly turning the tide on fraud and corruption.
Deep state and the fake news media and third-world Islamists are
eroding our country from within.
We need to wake up. American citizens need to recognize what is going
on and say: Enough is enough.
As long as I am alive, I will fight to ensure that my granddaughter
Rosie Grace can grow up in the same country that I and a lot of people
had the chance to grow up in--the greatest country on the face of the
Earth. And what I am telling people across this country and what should
have happened in Europe years ago: Folks, wake up. They are here. The
enemy is inside the gate. We are in bad trouble. And if we don't stop
it, we will lose this country that has been built for 250 years.
I yield the floor.
____________________