[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9943-9944]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1045
                            BROKEN PROMISES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Gallego) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GALLEGO. Mr. Speaker, as a candidate, Donald Trump made some very 
big promises on healthcare to the American people. GOP leadership in 
both the House and Senate have echoed those promises. But the Trump-
Ryan healthcare bill and the Senate version of the GOP bill fail to 
deliver on those promises.
  Donald Trump promised healthcare for all of the American people. Even 
though the ACA expanded health coverage to more than 20 million 
Americans, Donald Trump said he didn't think it provided enough people 
with coverage. He said: ``We're going to have insurance for 
everybody,'' and, ``I'm not going to leave the lower 20 percent that 
can't afford insurance.''
  The Congressional Budget Office says that 14 million people will 
immediately lose coverage under the Trump-Ryan plan, and 24 million 
people will lose coverage by 2027. The Senate version of the bill isn't 
much different.
  Trump also promised that Americans would enjoy cheaper health 
insurance, with ``much lower deductibles.'' His Health and Human 
Services Secretary,

[[Page 9944]]

Tom Price, said that ``nobody will be worse off financially.'' But the 
GOP healthcare plan would cause an increase in health premiums by 15 to 
20 percent in the first 2 years alone, according to the Congressional 
Budget Office.
  During the Republican Presidential primary, Donald Trump bragged that 
he was ``the first and only potential GOP candidate to state that there 
will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.'' But the 
GOP health plan guts Medicaid more than ever before. It freezes 
enrollment and unravels the Medicaid expansion.
  Donald Trump and the GOP leadership are breaking their promises to 
the American people. Their healthcare bills take away coverage from 
millions. Deductibles will go up. Copays will go up.
  TrumpCare would gut essential health benefits, which would mean 
soaring costs for people with preexisting conditions. It will provide 
worse coverage to those lucky enough to still be able to afford it. And 
to what end?
  They are stripping healthcare from millions of people in order to 
give a tax cut to the wealthiest Americans who need it the least. They 
are lining the pockets of the rich while leaving our families out to 
dry.
  The GOP wants to take away healthcare coverage from millions of 
hardworking Americans who just want to feel secure and know that they 
and their families will be able to see a doctor and get treated if they 
get sick, without putting themselves or their families in financial 
ruin. They are robbing Peter to give Paul Ryan and his cronies a tax 
cut.
  In Arizona, we have seen firsthand the damage that Medicaid cuts can 
wreak. In 2011, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer cut Arizona's Medicaid 
funding and froze enrollment. Families who were on Medicaid at the time 
could only continue to receive benefits if their income remained below 
the Federal poverty level. A family who worked hard to raise their 
income even the tiniest amount above the poverty line would lose 
Medicaid coverage permanently, even if their income went down later.
  About 150,000 adults in Arizona lost their Medicaid as a result of 
those changes. People would get sick and be unable to see a doctor just 
because they couldn't afford it. In some cases, people were forced to 
decide between paying for lifesaving care or paying their rent.
  If Medicaid expansion goes away under the GOP healthcare plan, around 
400,000 Arizonans could lose coverage, according to AHCCCS in Arizona. 
That includes 26,700 cancer patients and about 47,000 who are working 
to overcome different levels of substance abuse, including opioid 
treatment. People in other States across the country would experience 
similar devastating outcomes.
  Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake witnessed the disastrous effect 
of taking away healthcare coverage for people in Arizona. They know 
more than anyone else how many lives can be ruined.
  Some Republicans have already voiced strong concerns about this 
bill's impact on their constituents. If they are serious about these 
concerns, it will only take three Republican Senators to take a stand 
and grind this process to a halt. Unfortunately, so far, Senators 
McCain and Flake are not among them.
  Senators McCain and Flake face a very stark choice: they can do the 
bidding of Donald Trump and deprive millions of healthcare coverage, or 
they can take steps to defend the health and financial security of the 
Arizonans they were elected to represent.
  The people of Arizona haven't been shy about letting our Senators 
know how they feel and why they feel it, but it is time to dial up the 
pressure. Senators McCain and Flake must understand that they owe it to 
Arizona families to vote ``no'' on TrumpCare. If they don't, Arizona 
will hold them accountable.
  It is time for my colleagues in the House to put pressure on the 
Senators in their own States to do the right thing and vote ``no'' on 
this bill. We owe it to our constituents to stand up for them and make 
sure that this catastrophic plan never sees the light of day.

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