[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11581-11582]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2018--MOTION TO 
                           PROCEED--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Democratic leader be recognized for 5 minutes for debate only and that 
I then be recognized for 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Democratic leader.


                               Healthcare

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, in a short time, we will vote on the 
motion to proceed to debate the House Republican healthcare bill. 
Several months into this new process, with Republicans in the majority 
in both Chambers, the American people have not been treated to a high-
minded debate or to much debate at all.
  The very first action of this Congress was for the majority to pass 
reconciliation instructions on healthcare--a process which has locked 
out Democrats from the very beginning. The very first thing this 
Republican Congress said to the American people is that healthcare is 
going to be a partisan project, undertaken by Republicans and 
Republicans alone. Right out of the gate, Democrats were locked out. 
The majority leader elected to forge a bill in secret and bypass the 
committee process entirely--no public hearings, no open debate, no 
opportunity for the minority to amend the bill or even to read it 
before it emerged from the leader's office. Their plan all along was to 
keep their bill hidden for as long as possible, evade scrutiny, hide 
the truth from the American people, and then jam the bill through in 
the dead of night on a party line.
  Now, here we are, after so much cloak-and-dagger legislating, about 
to vote on proceeding to a debate on one of the most important issues 
of our time--one-sixth of the economy and tens of millions' health and 
even lives affected without knowing exactly what we will be debating 
on. Perhaps nothing could sum up the process that has gotten us here 
quite as well as this. The best the majority leader has been able to 
cook up is a vague plan to do whatever it takes to pass something--
anything--to get the bill to a House and Senate conference on 
healthcare.
  My colleagues, plain and simple, it is a ruse. The likeliest result 
of a conference between the House and Senate is the full repeal of the 
Affordable Care Act or something very close to it. It will, certainly, 
mean drastic cuts in Medicaid, huge tax cuts for the wealthy, no help 
for those with preexisting conditions, and tens of millions losing 
healthcare, particularly in poorer and more rural States.
  The hard-right Freedom Caucus in the House would never accept a 
Republican bill that only repeals a few regulations in the ACA but 
leaves much in place.
  I would say to my colleagues, particularly those on the other side of 
the aisle who have heartfeltly fought hard for not cutting Medicaid 
drastically, for keeping preexisting conditions, for not giving tax 
cuts to the rich while you are cutting healthcare for the poor, do not 
go along with this motion to proceed, because you know and I know what 
it will lead to. All of the things that you have been trying to avoid 
will emerge from that conference, and you will hurt the people of your 
States dramatically.
  We all know what is happening here. The leader could not get the 
votes on a full repeal because it is so damaging to America. He could 
not get the votes even on his own bill. Instead, the plan is to come up 
with a proposal that is simply a means to repeal, a means to dramatic 
cuts, a means to getting us in conference, and we all know what the 
result of that conference will be.
  I would plead one last time with my friends on the other side of the 
aisle--and I know you have sincerely tried to modify and change 
things--to turn back. We can go through regular order. We want to work 
with you. We know that the ACA is not perfect, but we also know that 
what you have proposed is much worse. We can work together to improve 
healthcare in this country. Turn back now before it is too late and 
millions and millions and millions of Americans are hurt so badly in 
ways from which they will never, ever recover.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, 7 years ago, Democrats imposed 
ObamaCare on our country. They said that costs would go down. Costs 
skyrocketed. They said that choice would go up. Choice plummeted. Now 
ObamaCare's years-long lurch toward total collapse is nearing a 
seemingly inevitable conclusion, and it will hurt even more Americans 
on the way down.
  This, my friends, is the ObamaCare status quo. This is the status 
quo. We have had to accept it for a long time. We do not have to accept 
it any longer.
  The American people elected a House with a vision of a better way on 
healthcare. Then they elected a Senate. Then they elected a President. 
Now, having been given the responsibility to govern, we have a duty to 
act. The President is ready with his pen. The House has passed 
legislation. Today, it is the Senate's turn. That starts with a vote 
that we will take momentarily. The critical first step in that process 
is the motion to proceed. It is the vote that determines whether this 
debate can proceed at all, whether we will even take it up after four 
straight elections in which this was a huge commitment to the American 
people. It is the vote that determines whether the Senators of both 
parties can offer their amendments and ideas on healthcare.
  I told the people of my State, over this period, that I would vote to 
move beyond ObamaCare, and that is what I am going to do today by 
voting yes. I ask all of my colleagues to join me in doing so. We have 
already shown that it is possible to put legislation on the President's 
desk that moves us beyond ObamaCare and its years of failure. We did 
that 2 years ago. President Obama vetoed what we passed before. 
President Trump will sign what Congress passes this time.
  I thank the President and the administration for all they have done 
on this issue already. They have worked with us every step of the way, 
and they, like us, know the consequences of failing to act.
  Look, we cannot let this moment slip by. We cannot let it slip by. We 
have been talking about this for too long. We have wrestled with this 
issue. We have watched the consequences of the status quo. The people 
who sent us here expect us to begin this debate, to have the courage to 
tackle the tough issues. They did not send us here just to do the easy 
stuff. They expect us to tackle the big problems. Obviously, we cannot 
get an outcome if we do not start the debate, and that is what the 
motion to proceed is all about.
  Many of us on this side of the aisle have waited for years for this 
opportunity and thought that it would probably never come. Some of us 
were a little surprised by the election last year, but with a surprise 
election comes great opportunities to do things that we thought were 
never possible. All we have to do today is to have the courage to begin 
the debate with an open amendment process and let the voting take us 
where it will.
  That is what is before us, colleagues. Will we begin the debate on 
one of the most important issues confronting America today? It is my 
hope that the answer will be yes.


                           Order of Procedure

  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that, following the vote, 
Senator

[[Page 11582]]

McCain be recognized to speak for debate only for up to 15 minutes and 
that the time not count on H.R. 1628.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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