[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9069-9070]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HEALTHCARE LEGISLATION

  Mr. SCHUMER. Finally, Madam President, a word on healthcare.
  The Republicans continue to work on their healthcare bill behind 
closed doors, and now it seems they are looking for a vote on a final 
bill before the July 4th recess.
  To all of America, this should be a red alert. This is not a drill. 
This is a red alert. In a very short time, maybe only 2 weeks, the 
Republican majority may try to jam through a healthcare bill that no 
one in America has seen--no committee hearings, no public debate. 
According to some reports, the Republicans will not publicly release 
the text until the very last moment.
  What Senate Republicans are doing on healthcare is one of the most 
outrageous examples of legislative malpractice in decades.
  Senator McConnell, who believes in regular order, ought to think long 
and hard before he does this because it will not go down as a fine 
moment in history for him, for his party, or for the Senate. This is 
the party that chanted ``Read the bill, read the bill,'' when ObamaCare 
was being debated, and now they will not even show the bill.
  Democrats spent over a year on the Affordable Care Act, the ObamaCare 
bill, with multiple committee hearings. We actually accepted dozens of 
Republican amendments. Show us the bill. Senators Grassley, Hatch, and 
others had amendments that were added to the bill. Show us the bill so 
we have the same opportunity.
  Why would the majority so starkly depart from the normal legislative 
procedure? Why would they seek to pass in the dark of night a bill that 
affects one-sixth of the economy, millions of people's lives?
  Leader McConnell used to stress the importance of regular order in 
the Senate. Why is he proceeding with the Republican healthcare bill in 
the most irregular way? I know why. It is because Republicans don't 
want the American people to see the bill. They are so ashamed of their 
healthcare plan, they want to pass it in the dead of night, with no 
hearings, no amendments--rushing it through.
  It is not a bill they are proud of. If they were proud of the bill, 
they would say: Let's debate it. They are ashamed of the bill. They 
know they have the hard right on their backs saying: You have to do 
something. But at least have the decency, the honor, a little bit of 
courage to put the bill out there and let us debate it and let us amend 
it.
  The Republicans don't want the American people to know their bill 
will likely gut Medicaid to finance a massive tax break for the 
wealthiest of Americans, hurt the healthcare of average Americans, 
middle-class Americans, elderly Americans, those who abuse opioids, so 
they can have a big tax break for people whose income is above $200,000 
a year.
  The Republicans don't want the American people to know their bill 
will make older and sicker Americans pay more for less coverage. 
Someone 63 or 64 could see their premiums go up three, four, five 
times, while millionaires and billionaires get a break on their taxes. 
If it were my bill, I would be ashamed of it too. Thank God it is not.
  Republicans don't want the American people to know their bill will 
cause their costs to go up, their care to go down, while leaving 
millions of Americans without health insurance. Why are Republicans 
working so hard in secret for a bill they are clearly not proud of? 
Because the ideologues on the hard right are pushing them to just 
repeal and give a tax break to the rich.
  It is because they repeated the political slogan ``repeal and 
replace'' to their base for 7 years without coming up with a workable 
healthcare plan when the day came that they were actually in charge.
  Now we have this Frankenstein bill from the House, assembled from 
spare parts intended to buy off different Republican constituencies, 
and the Republican majority in the Senate, which we thought at one 
point would show more honor and more courage, seems to be taking the 
same approach. They are working on modifying the bill so it can get 50 
votes in their caucus, no matter what the impact is on the country. 
Most of the devastating consequences of the House bill will remain.
  Mark my words, my Republican friends, the Republican Party will 
regret the day it passes a bill that looks anything like what is now 
being considered. Every independent analysis has shown that TrumpCare 
will devastate sicker, older Americans, folks in rural areas, the 
working poor, younger couples and middle-aged couples who have a parent 
in a nursing home. It will raise costs on middle-class families, and 
those struggling to get there will be left with a healthcare system 
that works only for the healthiest and wealthiest among us, and the 
Republicans will own every last shred of the responsibility. They will 
own it completely because there has not been a scrap of bipartisan 
input on the bill, not a single Democratic amendment, not a single 
hearing, and no one even knows exactly what the bill looks like.
  A senior GOP aide said in the paper today that they weren't releasing 
the

[[Page 9070]]

bill text because ``we are not stupid.'' I challenge that claim. 
Keeping a bill this bad holed up in secret and then forcing it down the 
throats of the American people is much more stupid than simply showing 
the bill, allowing it to be vetted and amended, and allowing it to be 
improved. It is much more stupid.
  The Republicans are going down a dark path, down a dangerous road 
that will have devastating consequences for their party and of course 
for the American people. Believe me, this is not what Democrats want.
  We Democrats are actually willing to take on some of the 
responsibility. We are willing to work with our Republican colleagues 
to make improvements to our healthcare system and to fix problems with 
the existing law. That involves some political risk. We are willing to 
take on that risk to try and help more Americans afford healthcare.
  The Republicans are doing just the opposite by hiding their bill 
under lock and key. They are trying to avoid the risk of public 
backlash on a bill that, at least the polling shows, has the support of 
a mere sliver of the American people--18 percent. It will backfire. It 
will do potentially irrevocable damage to their party and more 
importantly to our country.
  The Republicans ought to turn back before it is too late. They will 
rue the day they rushed this bill, in the dark of night, that does so 
much damage to the American people.
  I yield the floor.

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