[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 18922-18923]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       BUDGET RECONCILIATION BILL

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, as the ranking member of the Budget 
Committee, I rise in strong opposition to the budget reconciliation 
bill we are debating today. In fact, this bill should tell every 
American just how far removed the Republican leadership here in 
Congress is from the realities of American life and the needs of the 
American people.
  At a time when the United States is the only major country on Earth 
that does not guarantee health care to all people; when 29 million 
Americans today have no health insurance and even more are 
underinsured, with high deductibles and high copayments; when we pay 
the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs and when one out 
of five Americans is unable to fill the prescriptions written by their 
doctors because drug prices are so high, what this legislation does is 
move us in exactly the wrong direction. It would throw more than 17 
million Americans off of health insurance by gutting the Affordable 
Care Act. So we have a health care crisis, and this bill makes the 
crisis much worse.
  Every other major country on Earth guarantees health care for all of 
their people as a right, but this bill would add 17 million more 
Americans to the ranks of the uninsured, creating a situation in which 
we would have 46 million Americans without any health insurance at all.
  I think any sensible person would ask an obvious question: What 
happens to people who lose their health insurance? How many of those 
people will get much sicker than they otherwise would have because they 
are unable to go to a doctor when they need to go? How many of those 
people will not be able to get the prescription drugs they need? In 
fact, how many of those people will die? Let's be frank. When we throw 
17 million people off of health insurance, people will die because they 
don't go to a doctor when they should and they don't go to the hospital 
when they should.
  We know that before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, 45,000 
Americans died each year because they lacked health insurance and 
didn't get to a doctor in time. I have talked to many doctors in 
Vermont and throughout this country who tell me that yes, of course, 
people walk into their door much sicker than they should have been.
  When the doctor asks, ``Why didn't you come 6 months ago when you 
were sick?'' patients say, ``I didn't have any health insurance and I 
couldn't come.'' By the time they walk in the door, too often it is too 
late. That is not what should be happening in America, but that is what 
will increasingly happen if this legislation were to pass.
  In the United States of America, when a person is sick, that person 
should be able to access health care and see a doctor. That is not a 
radical idea. And when a person goes to the hospital, that person 
should not end up in bankruptcy.
  Instead of throwing 17 million Americans off of health insurance, 
what we should be doing is expanding on the improvements of the 
Affordable Care Act to make health care a right of all people, not just 
a privilege.
  Further, let's be clear--and I think everybody here in the Senate 
understands this--the bill we are debating today is a complete waste of 
time. This is just another reason why the American people have so 
little respect for the Congress. There are major crises facing our 
country, and the Republican leadership is once again attempting to 
repeal ObamaCare. I kind of lost track of how many times this effort 
has been made. I think in the House it is over 50. I don't know how 
many it is here in the Senate. Let me break the news to my Republican 
colleagues, although I am sure they already got the news: President 
Obama is not going to sign a bill repealing ObamaCare. I think that is 
not likely to happen. And what we are doing today is just a waste of 
time.
  Let's also be clear--this bill doesn't just gut the Affordable Care 
Act, it also eliminates funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides 
health care services to nearly 3 million women each and every year.
  Last week three people were killed and nine were wounded at a 
shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, CO. While 
we still don't have all of the details as to what motivated the 
shooter, what is clear is that Planned Parenthood has been the subject 
of vicious and unsubstantiated statements attacking an organization 
that provides critical care for millions of Americans and, in fact, 
provides very high quality care.
  I, for one, strongly support Planned Parenthood and the work it is 
doing. In my view, instead of trying to defund Planned Parenthood, we 
should be expanding funding so that every woman in this country gets 
the health care she needs.

[[Page 18923]]

  It is also my sincere hope that people throughout this country, 
including my colleagues here in the Senate and across the Capitol in 
the House, understand that bitter, vitriolic rhetoric can have serious, 
unintended consequences.
  Now is not the time to continue a witch hunt for an organization that 
provides critical health care services--from reproductive health care, 
to cancer screenings and preventive services--to millions of Americans. 
No one is forced to seek care at Planned Parenthood. It is a choice--a 
choice millions of women make freely and proudly.
  This legislation is not only bad legislation and it is not only a 
waste of time because if it passes, it will be vetoed, but what it also 
tells the American people is that the Republican leadership is not 
prepared to discuss or to address the major crises facing our country.
  Just today a report came out stating that the top 20 wealthiest 
people in this country own more wealth than the bottom half of the 
American people--20 people on one side and 150 million people on the 
other. The level of wealth inequality in America is grotesque and 
unacceptable. Not one word in this bill addresses that issue.
  Today in America, millions of our people are working longer hours for 
lower wages. They are working two or three jobs just to survive. Yet 58 
percent of all new income created is going to the top 1 percent. Is 
there anything in this legislation that would raise wages for millions 
of American workers who are struggling to keep their families solvent?
  This is a bad piece of legislation. It is a piece of legislation that 
is not going to go anyplace because it is going to be vetoed, and it is 
a piece of legislation that I think speaks to why the American people 
are giving up in so many ways on the political process. People are 
struggling all over this country. They are hurting. They are working 
longer hours for lower wages. They can't afford to send their kids to 
college. They can't afford childcare. They are worried about high 
unemployment. This bill attempts to repeal ObamaCare. That is where we 
are.
  I hope very strongly that this bill is defeated. If it is not 
defeated, I hope and expect the President will veto it.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up 
to 30 minutes in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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