[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 961]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            CBO REPORT ON REPEALING THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  Mr. SCHUMER. Finally, Mr. President, I wish to turn to the CBO report 
that just came out today. The Congressional Budget Office today 
released a new report outlining the consequences of the Republican plan 
to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Remember, the CBO is a nonpartisan 
entity. The numbers don't lie. Try as they might, our Republican 
colleagues can't discredit them.
  The numbers are even worse than experts could have imagined. 
Repealing the Affordable Care Act will mean tens of millions will lose 
their health insurance and individuals will see their premiums double. 
Let me repeat that. If the Republican bill passes--according to CBO, 
which is nonpartisan--tens of millions will lose their health insurance 
and individuals will see premiums double. Thirty-two million Americans 
would lose their health insurance, 18 million within the first year of 
repeal.
  The report makes it crystal clear that the Republican effort to 
repeal the Affordable Care Act will increase health care costs for 
millions of Americans and kick millions more off their health 
insurance. No wonder President-Elect Trump realizes repeal without 
replace is the real disaster. No wonder he has admonished the Congress 
not to do plain repeal.
  Some Republicans have tried to dismiss the CBO report as meaningless. 
I would remind my Republican friends of two points. First, this is the 
CBO Director that Republicans handpicked. This is not some Democratic 
operative. He is a person who knows numbers, who was chosen by our 
Republican colleagues. You can't reject his findings.
  Second, this is your repeal bill that the CBO is analyzing. They 
didn't make up the scenario. They took the exact bill we had on the 
floor and said: What are going to be the consequences? Devastating--
over 30 million losing coverage, premiums doubling. All the things that 
our colleagues are complaining about with ACA are even worse under 
their bill. Their complaints on ACA are incorrect. We have gained 
numbers, and costs have gone down. The rate of costs have gone down--
much lower than they would be under this report.
  I say to my colleagues, this is your repeal bill. The CBO didn't make 
this up. It looked at the bill you sent to the President's desk, the 
bill you say your repeal bill will be modeled on. It isn't meaningless. 
It is your plan.
  Now that repeal is real and not just a political exercise, the tide 
is turning. The American people are becoming roused by the prospects of 
dismantling health reform and leaving chaos in its wake. This is 
exactly why Republican Members of Congress are getting an earful back 
home from constituents who want them to turn back from their dangerous 
plan to make America sick again. I urge my Republican colleagues to 
listen to the growing outcry before it is too late.

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