Transcripts For CSPAN Senators Debate Partial Health Care Repeal 20170728

Takehome pay and Job Opportunities for workers. Second, the Health Care Freedom act provides significant new flexibility to states. The Health Care Freedom act gives states just the kind of flexibility they need to implement reforms that provide more options for consumers to buy the Health Insurance they actually want. These reforms also help make insurance more affordable and flexible, so its something americans actually want to buy. Finally, the Health Care Freedom act frees americans from obamacare in several other ways, too. It provides three years of relief from the medical device tax that increases costs, hurts innovation and has drawn significant criticism from both sides of the aisle. It expands for three years the contribution limits to Health Savings accounts so americans can better manage their health costs and pay down more of their medical expenses like prescriptions with pretax dollars. Also the legislation will prioritize funding for Womens Health through Community Health centers instead of large abortion providers and political organizations. The American People have suffered under obamacare for too long. Its time to end the failed status quo. Its time to send legislation to the president that will finally move our country beyond the failures of obamacare. Passing this legislation will allow us to work with our colleagues in the house toward a final bill that can can go to the president , repeal obamacare and undo its damage. I would urge everyone to support it. Now, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that senator murray or her designee be recognized to offer a motion to commit. Further, that the remaining time be equally divided between the managers or their designees. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mrs. Murray mr. President . The presiding officer the senator washington. Mrs. Murray i move to commit h. R. 1628 to the committee on health, education, labor, and pensions with instructions to report to same back to the senate p within three days not counting any day in which the flat is not in session with changes that are in the jurisdiction of such committee. Mr. President . The presiding officer the senator washington. Mrs. Murray mr. President , after months of secret negotiations and backroom deals and shutting out patients and families and women and democrats and even many republicans from the process, Republican Leaders continue to say they are planning to force a vote on this latest Trumpcare Bill tonight. A bill that even republicans admit would throw our markets into turmoil. Its going to kick millions of people off of care. It is going to raise premiums for millions of families and it will eliminate health care for women across the country. And so much more none of it good. Mr. President , it does not have to be this way. In fact, republicans can still reverse this course. They can drop this once and for all and join with democrats to get to work to actually improve health care, to reduce costs, to increase access, and to improve quality. We can start over with an open, transparent process in which both sides, democrats and republicans, have a voice. And one in which patients and families can make sure that their priorities are being addressed. Now, i know man many of our republican colleagues prefer this bipartisan route. We have heard them say it. They have said it over and over in their votes to reject the partisan Trumpcare Bill and full repeal this week, in their discussions of hearings that we should be holding, and in their comments even over the past few hours laying out how devastating this bill would be for patients and Health Care Markets and making it clear they do not trust the house to not simply pass whatever moves through the senate. So, mr. President , i call on republicans now to join us. Lets do it what my colleague, the senior senator from arizona and so many others have bravely called for. With this motion, we will send it back to the committee where we can debate it, where we can Work Together, where we can do what is right for the people we represent. I urge my colleagues to support this motion to recommit in the way that republicans and democrats have been talking about, and i can personal liaise sure every one of you that i will work with you and i know other democrats will as as well if we reject this process and send it back with this motion to recommit to do it the right way, the respectful way. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer is noter from connecticut. Mr. Murphy thank you, mr. President. This process is an embarrassme embarrassment. This is nucleargrade bonkers what is happening here tonight. We are about to reorder onefifth of the American Health care system and we are going to have two hours to review a bill which at first blush stands essentially as Health Care System arson. This bill is lighting the American Health care system on fire with intentionality, and to use the word freedom at its center . Theres freedom in this bill. Theres the freedom to go bankrupt. Theres the freedom to get sick and not be able to find a doctor. Theres freedom in this bill to die early. Thats not hyperbole, guys. Thats what happens when overnight 16 Million People lose insurance. And dont tell us thats because people all of a sudden wonting mandated to buy t this is a vicious cycle that happens. When you get rid of the mandate, every single Insurance Company will tell you that rates skyrocket because youre not getting rid of the provision that requires Insurance Companies to price sick people the same as Healthy People. C. B. O. Says that rates go up immediately by 20 , then 20 a of that then 20 after that. And so all of a sudden you cant have the individual mandate because nobody can afford to buy the product. Theres a lot of freedom in this bill. Its just not the kind of freedom that we all thought was at the heart of this reform measure. And this is real life. It is not a game. I know lots of members on the republican side are voting for this because theyve got some promise that even though this bill is terrible and everybody admits it doesnt solve any problems, itll get to a form in which the to a forum in which the problems can be truly solved. Thats gamesmanship. Thats not senatorial. Thats not what this place was supposed to be. This was supposed to be the great deliberative body where we solved big problems, and this bill surrenders to the house of representatives. And lets just be honest about whats going to happen when this bill gets to the house. Maybe there will be a Conference Committee. But it wont resolve any of the problems that have been inherent in the republican conference here in the senate. In fact, those problems will get worse because you will inject the Freedom Caucus into a republican conference here that alone wasnt able to come to a conclusion. Theyll argue for a couple weeks, maybe a month, and then the house will decide to proceed with vote on this bill. Theres nothing in the rules that locks this bill into the Conference Committee once it is there. The house can pick it up out of that Conference Committee and move it to a vote, and they will do that because none of the problems that were solved here will be solved there. Because weve seen this happen before. Remember the budget stalemate in which this hammer of sequestration was created and the supercommittee was supposed to solve all the problems that the house and the senate couldnt . Well, they didnt and now were stuck with sequestration, something nobody thought would happen. This is the same thing. It this wont be a hammer sufficient enough to solve the dysfunction that has always been present in this process. Thus, the congress will be doomed and this become this bill will become law. Raising rates for everyone, locking millions of people out of the system of insurance, with no answer for the parents of those disabled kids who have been begging to get into senators offices. This isnt a game. This is real life, and if this bill becomes law, real people will be hurt. We are begging our colleagues to vote for the motion to recommit. Take us at our word. We want to work with you. We acknowledge that there are still problems that need to be solved, though we maintain that there are parts of the Affordable Care act that are working. What if we owned the problem and the solution together . What if this wasnt a perpetual political football . There is still time for us to work this out together, if you support us and vote for the motion to recommit. This process is an embarrassment to the United States senate. This isnt why we all came here. And dont delude yourself into thinking that this bill that you are voting on wont become law. There is a very good chance that it will. And the end result will be absolute devastation, a humanitarian catastrophe visited upon this country. Mr. President , it doesnt have to be this way. I yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from montana. Mr. Tester thank you, mr. President. You know, its been an amazing process. Ive been here a little over ten years and ive never seen anything like this. We voted for cloture a few days ago to move to debate. Nothing. And now weve got a bill here today that, as the senator as senator murphy has already pointed our, will Rip Health Care away from millions of people, increase premiums by 20 a year. And basically solve none of the problems that are out there that need to be solved. That effect americans every day, especially Rural Americans. And i must thank the senator from washington, senator murray, for the motion to take this back to committee. This is where we should have started. We should have started in the Committee Process, like our forefathers had designed this place how to work the greatest deliberative body in the world. But it didnt. Every bill thats been drafted bay select few in a back room with no input from anybody, especially people from Rural America. So it is really time, folks, to open this process up. As ive gone around the state of montana and i have for the last eight months talking to folks about health care in Rural America, theyre very nervous. And im going to tell you something. If people cannot pay their bills because they dont have Health Insurance or they dont have the money, its going to put these small hospitals at risk. These rural hospitals at risk. Ill tell you a little bit about the town that i grew up in. This is a town where my grandparents homesteaded over 100 years ago. From the time of the homestead era until the mid 1960s, they didnt have a hospital. Their hospital was the top floor of a of a place that sold dry goods. Well, in the mid 1960s, they finally scratched up enough money, and they built a hospital. Big sandy is not near as big today as it was back then, and im going to tell you, the hospital administrators in these small hospitals, the folks in the Montana Hospital Association have told me if chairity goes up, they could close, change their method of delivery for health care. What does that do to a small town . Usually the hospital is the largest employer in a town. They fight with the School District for that honor. You take the heart and soul out of that community. You want to see a mass exodus from Rural America even bigger than it has been over the past 50 years, pass this bill. Pass this bill. This isnt about numbers, and its not about words. Its about people. And big sandy is not unique. Every rural town in the state of montana that has a hospital is in that position. Its the same thing in wyoming. Same thing in north and south dakota. Its probably the same thing in more urban states that have rural areas, where these small hospitals will be put at risk of closure. Its just not right. And im going to tell you that if we followed the process that should be followed in this great body, we would take this Health Care Bill and put it back in committee, have a debate, listen to ideas from everybody, rural and urban alike, farmers and ranchers, business people, health care professionals, families, doctors, nurses, and we could come up with a bill that could work for this country. But thats simply not the case here tonight, and we should not be proud of this at all. Our forefathers set up a great system that can work, and the majority has choosed to ignore that system. Its a disgrace to the senate. I yield the floor. The presiding officer who yields time . The senator from ohio. Mr. Brown mr. President , i lets look at how all this started. Several months ago, down the hall, right down this hall, mr. President , a few months ago, senator mcconnell, a handful of republican senators, the drug company lobbyists, Insurance Company lobbyists, wall street lobbyists met in that Office Behind closed doors. Most republican senators didnt know what was happening, no Democratic Senators knew what was happening, and the American Public didnt know what was happening. This bill written by Drug Companies, by Insurance Companies, by wall street was sent to the senate floor, was discussed, and alas, it was big tax cuts for the Drug Companies, for the Insurance Companies. Mr. President , when you think about this, youve got youve got u. S. Senators who get taxpayersubsidized insurance, senators who get insurance provided by taxpayers that are going to rip it away from potentially 700,000, 800,000, 900,000 ohioans. I stand with governor kasich. Governor kasich said you dont pass legislation, you dont meet in the Majority Leaders Office down the hall here, write legislation with drug company and Insurance Company lobbyists and then take insurance take medicaid away, take insurance away, disrupt the insurance markets. You just dont do things that way. Mr. President , a professor of Health Care Finance at casewestern in cleveland wrote yesterday that millions would lose coverage. Middleincome americans would be priced out of the market. But talk for a moment, if i could, mr. President , about what happens to individuals. Yesterday i was on the phone with donna may from gahena, ohio. She told me my mother is 91. She worked hard all her life. Im 73. I still work. Without medicaid or even large cuts in medicaid, i will not be able to care for my mom. Donna and so many others, they pay into Social Security, they pay into medicare, they pay into unemployment insurance, theand this congress is going to cut their medicaid, this congress is going to take money away from them when they need it, when they run out of money at the end of their lives and they are in nursing homes. Is that what we stand for as a country . In toledo, i talked to kelly peterson. Her dad is in a nursing home and relies on medical care. My family on medicare. My dad would be affected by these cuts to medicare. My dad paid into the system 30 years. Now when he needs it most, conservatives in Congress Want to take it all away. Again, mr. President , these people paid into Social Security, they paid into medicare. Now were going to take their insurance away from them as they grow older . A bunch of members of congress that have insurance provided by taxpayers think that its morally okay to strip the insurance from millions of people in our states . Again, i side with governor kasich. Im a democrat, hes a republican. He is as repulsed as i am that down this hall, senator mcconnell and Republican Leadership, with the drug and Insurance Company lobbyists, wrote this bill. I side stand with governor kasich who wants to do a simple thing stop this outrageous attempt tonight, sit down with republicans and democrats in both parties. I could sit with senator portman. We could come up with legislation to fix the Affordable Care act. To encourage more young, Healthy People into the insurance pools, to stabilize the insurance market, to go after the outrageous costs of Prescription Drugs, maybe even to open up medicare eligibility for people between 5050 and 64. Its not complicated. The special interests have taken over this chamber. We should be ashamed of ourselves. We ought to do this right. I ask my colleagues to vote yes on the murray motion to recommit. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from West Virginia. Mr. Manchin mr. President , i rise in support of my friend from the state of washingtons motion to recommit. Let me just tell you why. We have a problem that most all of you have in your states, which is an opiate. This opiate addiction as it goes on is affecting everybody. Not just democrats, not just republicans. I dont care whether you are poor, you are rich, whether you are conservative, you are liberal. It has no base at all. Its a silent killer. For the first time, for the first time under the Affordable Care act, were able to get some treatment. I have not been able to do this before. The only treatment people have gotten before, when a parent comes to you and says i have just got to hope my child, if they get arrested, they can go into drug court and i can get them maybe some some care, some treatment. Well, for the first time, we can through medicaid give treatment for opiate addiction. Never had a chance before. Never had this opportunity. And these people, its really life saving and also it gets them back into the work force, too, and we can clean their lives up, and they really want this done. Were taking on 33,000 americans who lost their life in 2015. 33,000. In any other scenario, that would be an epidemic or pandemic, and here we go. We still dont have any adequate treatment centers, we have no way that we can go forward and fight this illness. We set here and we talk about it. Now we talk about we know 16 Million People are going to be thrown off. We know that. We know the premiums will go up 20 . Someone says you still have preexisting conditions, were going to take care of them. They can find it. Oh, yeah, they can find it. Its available. I have said this before. A rolls royce is available to me. I just cant afford to buy it. Thats what were going to be faced with. But this is fixable. And what we have said about fixable, we as democrats, there is those of us in this body that will sit down, as senator murray has said, will sit down tonight, well start tonight if you want to and look at ways that we can make this more effective, more beneficial for everybody. When you think about the reinsurance, we know its worked in alaska. The Affordable Care act or the socalled obamacare has been out long enough now that we know where the problems are, we know where the fixes need to be, and we know how to do it. We have seen alaska do something that looks like its very promising. Also, Vice President pence when he was governor in indiana, they did an expansion of a Medicaid Expansion in indiana that put accountability and responsibility. It has great effects. My good friend, mitch daniels, was the governor at the time who put this plan into place, and its worked and worked well. So were willing to set and talk. These are good things. We think we can make this really happen. We have been shut down in every turn. And i have said this is not how we were taught in West Virginia, its not how we do business. We sit down and work through it. You know, i dont care what side of the aisle youre on. We came here to do the right thing for the country. Were all americans. We all have something in common. Were all on the same team, i hope. Thats team america. All that were saying, lets fix this. Let me tell you what happens if you dont fix it. Let me tell you what happens for the people that lose it. Do you know where they go back . I dont know why people think there is a savings involved. They are going back to the emergency room. Someones paying. When i was governor, every year they came to me and they said hey, governor manchin, we need 12 million for a little rural hospital. We gave all this charity care away. We will go back to that. Do you think thats quality . There is no preventative care, there is no planning, there is nothing to help these people have a better quality of life. So were going to pay again, were going to pay dearly for this. We will not have any chance to get people back in the work force. All were asking for, please, vote for senator murrays motion to recommit. Give us a chance to do what we were sent here to do. Let us work the legislation. Let us sit down and find the commonality we can find as americans and moving forward with a piece of legislation that can change peoples lives, that can save peoples lives, that can give them hope again for the first time. Thats all were asking for. So, mr. President , i would ask each and every one of us to search our souls and our hearts for why we are here, what we are here to do, what our purpose of being here is, and give us a chance to fix a Health Care System that needs to be fixed but also needs to be available for the people in my great state of West Virginia and everyone in this great country. And with that, mr. President , i yield the floor. Mr. Whitehouse mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from rhode island. Mr. Whitehouse this bill is the product of the most secretive and partisan process i have seen in my ten years in the senate. Who did the magicians who came up with this listen to . They obviously didnt listen to the doctors. The American Medical Association is opposed to this. The American Pediatrics Society is opposed to this. The academy of Family Physicians is opposed to this. Certainly the doctors didnt get a chance to get heard in all this process. How about the hospitals . The american Hospital Association is opposed to this. The catholic hospitals are opposed to this. Rural hospitals are warning that this could end their very existence. So lets have a process that gives the hospitals a chance to be listened to. The nurses in rhode island are opposed to this. I think nurses around the country are opposed to this. Why not an open process that gives the nurses a chance to be heard . Our Community Health centers are opposed to this. They have been down here to washington to say please dont do this. You will be hurting real people who we care for. Illness advocacy groups. The people who theyre fighting for are stuck in this Health Care System with serious illnesses. Did we listen to the American Cancer Society . No. Did we listen to the American Lung association . No. We didnt even listen to the hemophilia group, for petes sake. Addiction treatment groups are against this. We have listened to nobody. We didnt even listen to the republican governors, let alone the democratic governors like my governor who is telling me were working fine, we have people on medicaid, our exchanges are working, why fire this torpedo into perfectly working exchanges when we could be working on fixing the few where its not working . So why are we here . Who was behind this . Who was telling the little group of magicians in their secretive back room what to do . This, ladies and gentlemen, is what happens when a party becomes beholden to a small handful of creepy billionaires and stops listening to the people. They are conducting a freakish social experiment here on other Peoples Health coverage because you can bet those billionaires have all the coverage that they need, but they have got this ideology about taking coverage away from people by the millions, and our republican friends are standing up in lockstep to march the billionaire march on a bill that everybody hates and that will cause damage in everybodys home state, and it doesnt matter because the billionaires have the dark money, the dark money floods our politics, and everybody marches to the tune of the anonymous billionaires. We could be doing great things. We could be solving the known problems end of life care and making sure the people get their wishes honored at that precious time. We could be dealing with opioid and Behavioral Health issues that have been bedeviling communities across this country. We could be helping doctors with payment reform that lets them treat people in a way that keeps them healthier rather than having to wait to be paid until they do stuff to people, running up the costs of health care. We could be dealing with hospitalacquired infections. How many people know someone who is dealing with a hospitalacquired infection . Which brings enormous costs. Do we address that . No, because we didnt bother to listen to the hospitals. We could do something about pharmaceuticals. People in america are irate about jackedup priced for pharmaceuticals. People are just speculating to drive up prices. They put money into the system and so they get what they want. This bill is a nightmare in and of its own, and it is a colossal missed opportunity for the American People to do something good that will actually help them. So lets support senator murrays motion to recommit and just try just try the regular order that the majority leader proclaimed he was a champion of for year after year after year until the creep chit billionaires said to him creepy billionaires said to him, this is the bill we want. We dont care about those people or those hospitals. Shove is through because it suits our ideology. This is no way to govern. Give the people, the hospitals, the nurses, the Community Health centers, the people suffering from illnesses at least a chance to be heard in some kind of an open environment. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from vermont. Mr. Sanders at last count i think it was the gallup poll showed that 12 of the people have confidence in the congress. Well, i think were on our way tonight to Single Digits because in the modern history of this country, there has never been a process as absurd as what we are seeing right here. Mr. President , we are talking about legislation that impacts onesixth of the American Economy over 3 trillion. We are talking about legislation because it is health care that impacts every man, woman, and child in this country. Mr. President , maybe you can help me. How many public hearings have we had dealing with legislation that is of enormous significance to tens of millions of people . Well, mr. President , i will help you with the answer. There has been zero hearings. What impact will this legislation have on doctors who are trying to treat us every day . One might think that we would hear from doctors and the American Medical Association to tell us how this legislation would impact their work. We have not had one public hearing to hear from one doctor. What has the american Hospital Association had to say about how this legislation would impact rural hospitals in america, many of which may close down . They have not had one moment, one opportunity to say one word on this legislation. So we are proceeding here with major, major legislation written behind closed doors by a handful of republicans. Most republicans have not been involved in this process, let alone democrats, let alone the American People. Well, by the way, when we think of the American People, how do they feel about this legislation . Well, last poll that i saw was usa today. They had 12 of the American People thinking that this legislation made sense. 12 . Well, maybe the American People got it wrong. How do the Major Health Care organizations in america feel about this legislation . The people who are on the cutting edge, the people who do the work every day. Well, guess what . The a. M. A. , American Medical Association, is opposed. The american Hospital Association is opposed. The aarp, the largest senior group in america, is opposed because they know the horrendous impact this will have in raising premiums for older workers. The American Cancer Society. The american heart association, opposed. The American Academy of Family Physicians. The American Academy of pediatrics, opposed. The american stick a trick association, opposed. Virtually every Major National Health Care Association is opposed to this disastrous legislation. So the American People are opposed, the Health Care Organizations r. All across this country are opposed. The bill is written behind closed doors, and yet under those circumstances, they want to bring it to the floor for a vote. Now, what most americans are signature around and thinking are sitting around and thinking, they are saying, look, the Affordable Care act has done some good things. Before the Affordable Care act, mr. President , we had some 50 Million People without any insurance. The Affordable Care act provided insurance for about 20 Million People. That is no small thing. In the majority leaders own state of kentucky, the rate of uninsured went from 20 down to 7 . Thats pretty good. Not great, but its pretty good. West virginia, the rate of uninsured went way down. So we have seen 20 Million People gain insurance. We have dealt with the Affordable Care act under a total obscenity, and that is if somebody had a serious illness breast cancer, diabetes they could not get insurance at an affordable cost because of a preexisting condition. How insane is that . The American People said, that is nonsense. Whats the function of insurance if not to cover us when we need it the most for those illnesses that we have had . And we ended that absurdity. That was a good thing. The Affordable Care act has done other very important things. Have you heard, mr. President one member of this body say that the Affordable Care act is perfect . Have you heard one person here say that the Affordable Care act does not need to be improved . Of course it does. Right now throughout this country in my state of virginia, all over this country, deductibles are too heist ive too high. Ive talked to people who have 5,000, 10,000 deductibles, they cant go to the hospital when they should. Weve got to lower deductibles. Copayments are too high. Premiums are too high. And ill tell you something else, mr. President. Donald trump ran for president he campaigned and he said, im going to stand with the working people of this country. Prescription drug costs are too high. Im going to take on the pharmaceutical industry. Were going to lower Prescription Drug costs in america. Mr. President , today if you can believe it, one out of five americans under 65 cannot afford to fill the prescription their doctors write. Mr. President , today somebody walked into a pharmacy and found that the cost of the medicine theyve been using for ten years has doubled, maybe tripled because we have no legislation that stops the Drug Companies from charging us anything they want, and they will charge us anything they want, and the result is we have the highest prices in the world for Prescription Drugs. Those are the problems that the American People want answers to. Deductibles too high. Premiums too high. Copayments too high. Prescription drug costs too high. Were not doing enough good work in primary health care. Too many people even with insurance cannot find the doctors that they need. And many other problems. Those are what the American People want us to solve. This legislation only makes a very bad situation worse. How do you improve health care in america when you throw 16 Million People off of the Health Insurance they currently have . How do you improve health care in america when, do when accordg to the c. B. O. , premiums are going to go up 20 every year . Lets get that clear. 20 on january 1, another 20 the following year thats 40 another 20 the year after. Do you think, mr. President , that this is really improving health care, this is bringing freedom to the American People . I think not. So what is the solution . The solution is i know this is a radical idea that maybe we should do what the American People want us to do. And not what special, powerful interests want, not what Billionaire Campaign contributors want, whose rightwing ideology wants to end Government Services for working families all across this country. So i would hope, mr. President , that we have the common common sense and the the common sense and the decency to sit down and throw the problems on the table the and then resolve them. And i think we can do that. And that is why we have to end this absurd process. We have to go back to regular order, which simply means go back to the committee. Im a member of the health, education, labor, and Pensions Committee. Lets that discussion. Lets hear different ideas. Lets solve problems. Let us not make a bad situation worse, and let us not make the American People even feel more contemptuous of this institution than they currently do. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. Mr. Durbin mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from illinois. Mr. Durbin i want it thank my colleague from vermont. Mr. President , in my hand is one of the closely kept secrets in washington, d. C. , and these eight pages have been so carefully guarded that for three days we have been on the floor of the United States Senate Waiting for this moment. Within the last hour, the republicans finally released their plan to change health care for every american. Weve been waiting a long time. Theyve been meeting behind closed doors, secret sessions, writing what i have in my hand here. And you have to think to yourself, why would they do it in secret . If this is something that will affect every american family, business, and individual, and if theyre proud of what theyve done, why did they wait so long . Well, when you read it, you can understand it. Because this measure proposed by the Republican Leadership makes things worse for American Families when it comes to Health Insurance. Its got a great name. Aim sure somebody invested some time in thinking about this one. The Health Care Freedom act. Freedom. Well, it appears that for 16 million americans, they will be free of Health Insurance protection. 16 million americans will lose their Health Insurance protection because of this republican plan. And every other american buying Health Insurance will be free to pay 20 more each year for the premiums on their Health Insurance. You dont have to be a math major to figure out compound interest at 20 a year. By the fourth year youre knocking on 100 increase in your premiums. So your Health Insurance premiums will double in about four years under the republican plan. Is that why they started this debate . So they could take Health Insurance away from millions of americans and raise the cost of Health Insurance for others . Four senators had a press conference this evening at 5 00. I watched it carefully. And i listened as my colleagues came to the floor and those four senators described this plan theyd seen it the socalled skinny repeal plan. One of the senators said about this plan, it was a fraud, it was a disaster, it would have a disastrous impact on the premiums charged, people he represented if his state, than it didnt achieve the goal of reforming and repairing the Affordable Care act. Now, i quickly add, because you think, well, we expected democrats to say that. This was a press conference of four republican senators about six hours ago. They had read the republican plan and called it a fraud, a disaster, raising premiums and not really bringing reform to health care in america. It only takes one of those four senators to stand up and speak up and vote no for the right thing to happen, for this proposal to go to committee where it should have started and to be considered by the experts first so we know its real impact, then to have an amendment process where better ideas might be offered and debated and added to this proposal. Then if its voted out of committee, bring it to the floor of the United States senate for the same thing to happen. Do you know who came up with that radical idea . That we go through the Committee Process and both parties participate in writing this reform . None other than senator john mccain. He came to this floor a couple days ago, it was an historic moment. Everybody, both political parties, on their feet, cheering this man whom weve served with and love and respect. And he warned us he warned us that if we didnt do this together, democrats and republicans, the results would be terrible. Can we afford terrible results when it comes to health care for your family, for you, for your baby . Of course we cant. Weve got to do our level best not to win the political debate but to win the confidence of the American People that we understand how to make Health Care Better and more responsive in america. I have been through a lot of measures and i have voted on a lot of things over the years. My proudest vote was for the Affordable Care act because i knew that we would extend the reach and protection and peace of mind of Health Insurance to millions of americans. I had an experience early in my life. Newly married, brandnew baby girl, Serious Health issue, and i had no Health Insurance, none. And i went to the hospital, local hospital here, waiting in the charity ward in the hopes that the doctor who walked through that door would be the one who would save my babys life. And i thought to myself, ill never let that happen again. I will have Health Insurance no matter what it takes the rest of my life. I know the feeling, and some others do, too. I dont want American Families and individuals to go through this. I want them to have the peace of mind and protection of good Health Insurance. Thats why this republican proposal taking Health Insurance away from 16 million americans is such a travesty. Thats why the notion of raising Health Insurance costs beyond the reach of working families is so wrong and so disgraceful. And thats why, with the help of one more republican senator, we can send this measure back to a committee where it can be seriously considered, worked on, improved and passed so that we can say to the American People we did our job as senators. We did what john mccain challenged us to do, to come together on a bipartisan basis and to make this a better bill. Im glad my colleagues are here this evening. Im glad to see my friend from the state of wyoming who is here. We have worked on many issues together. We disagree on this one. But i hope that he will realize and others will, too, this secret that they have kept from the American People is just plain wrong. Its a secret that now its been outed has to be put to rest. Lets do this the right way. Lets do it for the wellbeing and the health of American Families across this nation. Mr. President , i yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from new jersey. Mr. Brooker mr. President , i stand today sort of feeling like a great new jerseyan named yogi berra who says has a saying that this is deja vu all over again. The reason why it feels like deja vu all over again to me is because i have been watching this process move along, and when the house first tried to push through a Health Care Bill, i was so proud of the American Public, republicans and democrats outraged stopped that version one in the house. Then version two, they rushed it through and got it done. We heard republicans in the house literally saying on the record that i so hope that they will fix this in the senate. That maybe something will happen in the senate that this will get if i have. Now i have deja vu all over again, because we see a whole bunch of folks. Now we have heard republican senators say this on the record, gosh, we know what were doing is flawed, we know what we are doing is wrong, we know the process has been outrageous, but our hope is, our hope is if we can get it into a Conference Committee, then they will fix it in the Conference Committee. Well, i am proud to be a United States senator, but dear god, this is not what this body is about. To push their responsibilities off, to derelict their duties, and to not make legislation happen here that puts people first. We all know this process is broken, we all know what we are doing here is not just imperfect. Many of us see this like the c. B. O. As a serious threat to millions of americans. Were about to do something that is unconscionable to me to be in the United States senate where i have seen this place work, i have seen regular order, i have seen hearings, i have seen witnesses brought in, i have seen people work hard on crafting actual legislation. And so now this is just going to be shoved over with the hope in this body that even though the house didnt do their job, that the president of the United States even criticized what the house did, called it mean. It gets kicked over to the senate, and the senate is refusing to do their job. They are just passing the buck to something called a Conference Committee where they are going to hope again. So i stand here and i just have to confess. This has been two days for me where i havent just been frustrated and angry like so many americans. I have actually been struggling with being a little sick. I started feeling it about two days ago. By yesterday, my throat was so sore, i went to bed, i had a horrible night. Got up, could barely even swallow. I had the worry in my head that maybe i had strep throat. But guess what . Unlike the thousands of new jerseyans who have reached out to me to worry about an illness for me, maybe that i have strep throat, i went to a doctor today. I had myself tested for strep. You see, we in this body, we enjoy Health Coverage that right now millions of americans are worried about losing, and many other ones worry as we heard said tonight about copays and Prescription Drug costs, and i wonder where the justice is in that. What are the American Values that hold us all together . I know we pledge of allegiance to that flag, we put our hands on our hearts and we swear this oath to liberty and justice for all. Where is the justice in this country where some people who are favored and privileged enough and wealthy enough to afford good Health Coverage can have it, but for other folks, a night with a bad sore throat or worse, with a disability or disease, where is there justice in the wealthiest country on the planet earth that we cant even in this body come together and do what the president said in his campaign that he would do . Everyone be covered, get a health care that i think the quote was was terrific. Well, it brings me back to what our values are as a country, and i wonder we who believe in life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, how can you have life . When we see millions of people about to be thrown off their Health Coverage, we in this nation, we hold these values so dear. We believe that all are created equal. And in my belief should have equal rights and equal opportunities to the basics that are necessary to succeed and to compete, and thats Health Insurance. I wonder how we have gotten to a point as a body on an issue like this thats not just onesixth of our economy, not just will affect millions and millions of lives, but really goes to the core of who we are as a country. There was a great man Patrick Henry who said give me liberty or give me death. Those words have been coming back to me in the last months of this debate and this discussion. Give me liberty or give me death. What is the quality of the liberty in this country where there are people that are shackled with preventable disease and conditions that could be treated because they dont have access to health care . What is the quality of liberty in this country where people are chained to poverty, have to sell their cars, have to sell their homes, go into bankruptcy because they cant afford their Health Care Coverage . Give me liberty or give me death. What is the quality of the liberty when people are imprisoned by fear and worry and stress because they have a sick child, they have a parent that is elderly and needs care. These are the values of this country, and i dont understand how we could be at this moment right now, where the ideas that i have heard on both sides of the aisle to make Health Care Better, to improve upon the Affordable Care act, to extend Health Coverage to even more people, to make this nation live up to its most powerful and profound values that made us a light unto nations, how we could have gotten to this point now after gaining ground, after having more people experience the freedom and the liberty that comes from not having to worry about your Health Coverage, from having access to Quality Health care. How can we move forward and now be about in a matter of hours to push this nation back . I dont understand how we can be here where no one can justify the process, no one can justify this body having gone through such a contorted process that bends our traditions, that breaks our values. I do not understand how we could have gotten here, and who will be hurt . Who will be hurt . I have read lots of studies recently about how when Health Insurance rates go down, mortality rates go up. When Health Insurance rates go down, mortality rates go up. And it makes me wonder about the duty that we each have to each other as americans as a as americans. As a man of faith, it makes me wonder about all of us who profess our faith, how we could be allowing a process to go forward where the most vulnerable amongst us will face fear and deprivation, will see things that will cost life and have them surrender liberty. We are better than this. This nation is greater than this. This moment is casts a shame and a shadow over the soul and the heart of america. And i will fight even in these last hours with every breath that i have, the patriots before us, not to allow that to happen to my fellow americans. This is unjust, this is wrong, and we can and must in these hours do better. Lets send this bill into committee. Lets do this process as this institution was designed to have it done. Lets open the doors of the capitol and invite america to come, the American Medical Association, the cancer association, Hospital Associations, lets invite the aarp, lets have america come down here, lets join together like our forefathers and foremothers have done to expand liberty, to expand opportunity, to extend hope. We can do that. All of us collectively have that power, and its what the people want right now. This is not what the people want. What were about to vote on has only seen the light of day for a matter of minutes now, a matter of minutes. This nation was founded with a proclamation that we, the people. This idea that all of us together can do better. That when we join together, we stand together, we fight together and when we Work Together, we can create a transcendent reality. Thats the story of america, and this is not. This is a betrayal of our values. This is a betrayal of our history. This is a betrayal of the great body in which we all are members of. Thank you, mr. President. Ms. Hirono mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from hawaii. Ms. Hirono mr. President , its been spoken so many times now against the repeal of the Affordable Care act which would hurt millions and millions of people in our country and especially the sickest, poorest, and oldest among us. I would say that i am probably the only senator here who was not born in a hospital. I was born at home in rural japan. I lost a sister to pneumonia when she was only 2 years old in japan. She died at home. Not in a hospital where maybe her life could have been saved. Its hard for me to talk about this. I think you can tell. Give me a moment. When i came to this country as an immigrant, my mother brought me and my brothers to this country so we could have a chaps at a better life. We came here with nothing. She had lowpaying jobs. There was no Health Coverage. Growing up as a young girl in hawaii, my greatest fear was that my mother would get sick, and if she got sick, how were we going to pay for her care . How would she go to work . And if she didnt go to work, there would be no pay, there would be no money. I know what its like to run out of money at the end of the month. That was my life as an immigrant here. And now here i am a United States senator. I am fighting Kidney Cancer, and i am just so grateful that i had Health Insurance so that i could concentrate on the care that i needed rather than how the heck i was going to afford the care that was going to probably save my life. And guess what . When i was diagnosed with Kidney Cancer and facing my first surgery, i heard from so many of my colleagues, including so many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who wrote me wonderful notes, sharing with me their own experience with major illness in their families or with their loved ones. You showed me your care. You showed me your compassion. Where is that tonight . So i cant believe that a single senator in this body has not faced an illness or whose Family Member or loved one has not faced illness where they were so grateful that they had health care . I cannot believe that there is a single senator who has not experienced that in their family or their lives. So i know how Important Health care is. What i dont get is why every single senator does not know that. Why are we here tonight voting on a bill that has not had a single hearing . Why are we here tonight voting on a bill that would eliminate Health Care Coverage that could save lives for 16 Million People . Why are we here voting on a bill that will probably mean that people like me, millions in this country who are now in the ranks of those with preexisting conditions, will not get the health care we need . Why are we here tonight . Where is your compassion . Where is the care that you showed me when i was diagnosed with my illness . I find it hard to believe that we can sit here and vote on a bill that is going to hurt millions and millions of people in our country. We are better than that. I listened to John Mcconnell on us to have hearings, to do the right thing, and im just saddened that he was not able to move us in that direction. I would call on him tonight to vote his conscience, to vote with us, to say, we are going to stand for the millions of people in our country who will be hurt by p what we are contemplating tonight. Mr. President , i will yield the floor by asking my friends to show the compassion to everybody in this country that you showed me. We all should be voting to send this bill to committee so we can debate it. I yield the floor. Mr. Kaine mr. President . The presiding officer the senator virginia. Mr. Kaine mr. President , i also rise with my colleagues. I was moved by the powerful words of my friend from hawaii. Why cant you show the compassion to others that you showed to me is her question, and that is a haunting, haunting question. And i hope people will hear it not just with their ears by with their heart. I also rise to support the motion to do what we should have done in january, to commit this important topic to the committee that has jurisdiction over it. A few years ago there was a popular thing to do, and it was to wear a button or a bracelet with the letters wwjd. That stood for what would jesus do . I was on the floor the other night and i dont think thats a very hard question because in matthew 25 he tells us, i was sick and you cared for me in different translations, i was sick and you looked at me. I was sick and you visited me. I was sick and you took care of me. I think the answer to wwjd is pretty straight forward tonight. But i am going to talk about a different j john mccain. John mccain based on the tremendously moving presentation that he made on the floor of the other day, one that led us to a standing ovation because you talked about how this body should improve. He said the that things werent working here as they should for the American Public. He said we needed to fix the senate and be an example for the public. We needed to restore confidence, and the way to do that would be to return to operate as the senate should operate, with putting bills in committees and having hearings and listening to the public and maybe, most importantly, listening to each other. That is the process that john mccains Committee Just used, the Armed Services committee, to get a unanimous defense authorizing bill out to the floor, which i hope well take up in the next few days. And so i just want to spend a few minutes talking about, if thats what we should do if those words led us to leap to our feet in a standing ovation, why are we here two days later preparing to break every suggestion and recommendation that he made to us . When should we start the process of listening to each other and listening to the American Public . Should we start on an inconsequential issue that does matter . I think now is the time to start. I think we all know i. T. The time to start. If we didnt believe in our heart that know is the time to start fixing this place, we wouldnt have leapt to our feet and given senator mccain a standing ovation. This is the time. And this is the issue, to start fixing this place and doing what we do with the spirit that is worthy of the American People who sent us here why is now the right time. First, because this issue is so important to people. You heard moving, moving words from our friend from hawaii and our friend from new jersey, and we have all spent months going town to town in our states and having people come plead with us for solutions. I shared stories about being in a Medical Clinic in appalachia a week ago tomorrow and seeing the tremendous need in this richest and most compassionate nation on earth. There is nothing about a persons life that is nor important than their health. There is no expenditure that a human being ever makes that is as important as an expenditure they make about their health. This is the right issue to start fixing this place because its important to people. Its important to the economy. This is the largest sector of the American Economy. We are proposing to reorient onesixth of the American Economy on a snap vote in the middle of the night without having a single hearing or listening to a single expert. Its an important issue because we definitely need to hear from the public. You know, Committee Hearings sound kind of wonky. That means we havent had a witness table where a patient or a doctor or the American Cancer Society or others could stand up and share their points of view. We need to listen, and if we dont listen, we wont get this right. The presiding officer the senators time has expired. Mr. Kaine with two minutes, i would like to close, mr. President. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Kaine the time is right because the consequences are so severe. 16 Million People lose insurance. 20 premiums compounding over the years. Insurance markets skyrocketing and unstable, and planned parenthood defunded, the Health Care Provider and choice for three million women. But, mr. President , the final reason we should do this the right way, not the wrong way, is what was said by senator graham just a few hours African American he described the bill that is now on the floor, the skinny repeal, the skinny bill is a disaster as a replacement for obamacare it is a fraud. Is fraudulent disaster the best that the United States senate can do now . Is that now the bar we have to get over . If we can Say Something is a fraudulent disaster it is suddenly good enough to vote for . That is salt in the wound of a family that is worried about their sick child. That is salt in the wound of anybody whos worried about what will happen to their family tomorrow l they lose insurance . Will they pay more . Will they be blocked from going to planned parenthood . If this body passes a bill that even members who vote for it claim is a fraudulent disaster, how do you think the American Public will view this body . How will they view the degree of care and concern that we exhibit towards them . This is not the best that the senate can do. We can do much better than this. We must do much better than this. And i ask my colleagues to send this to committee where we can listen to one another and get this right. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. Mr. Enzi mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from wyoming. Mr. Enzi for two and a half days i have been listening to the same rhetoric, talk about deja vu. For two and a half days ive been listening to this. Ive been giving extra time to the other side to speak. Ive been hoping that out of that i would get one constructive suggestion for what could be done with health care. Its all been criticism. Its been criticism against all even tonight after the bill was read here on the floor, i heard that we were changing Social Security. We are not changing Social Security. We cant change Social Security under the budget. I heard that we were changing medicare. Were not changing medicare. Im not going to allow other time for that side. Am i going to suggest that that side of the aisle go and read the bill. I think it would be a worthwhile exercise. There isnt even medicaid in there. Youve threatened about what was going to be done with medicaid. Youve talked about what was going to be done with medicaid. But its not based on a fact. So take a look at the bill. Another that i this is deja vu is i remember being here on a Christmas Eve when technical corrections were expected from the other side, but you want ahead and passed this bill. And we have mentioned things that needed to be changed in the meantime and weve told, no, no, that doesnt have to be done. It just needs more time. Well, weve had more time. And there does need to be corrections. You keep talking about how the republicans have ruined the insurance market. No, last october the high rates came out for states across this country that pointed out that health care was going down the tubes. So something needed to be done. Something needed to be done. But without getting constructive suggestions from the other side, just criticism saying obamacare is perfect, until this debate started and then i started hearing, its not perfect, its not perfect. Well, where are the suggestions for making it as near perfect as possible . Weve put up you. The presiding officer mr. President . Mr. Enzi im not asking that as a rhetorical question. I mean, im not asking for you to think about it for a little while. Ms. Heitkamp mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from wyoming has the floor. Ms. Heitkamp would he yield to a question . Mr. Enzi no, i will not yield for a question. When i feel like theres something constructive thats going to be done around here, i remember that one of the senators on the other side of the aisle said, if you just take medicaid out, ill be for it. Well, medicaid is not in this version. So that ought to be some kind of a commitment on it. I keep referring to this book, which goes back to a lot of the history that weve experienced around here. Heres whats happened, and all of this is footnoted. I was really impressed with the footnotes. I didnt check out all the footnotes, but did i look to see if they were footnoted. Under the bill that were trying to make some changes in, there have been costs for new taxes. There are 21 taxes that have been included in obamacare, but the most enormous one is the increased taxes on Health Care Companies that are then passed along to the public as higher costs for insurance and pharmaceuticals. I have heard that word pharmaceuticals thrown out a lot. There are some things that need to be changed there. I do remember the pharmaceuticals joining in on the process of getting obamacare passed because they did this little thing with the pharmaceutical partd where there was this doughnut hole and through the doughnut hole we were hoping that people would switch to generic. But the pharmaceutical companies said, no, no, no. If you will swill stick with the brand name, we will cover you through the doughnut hole. You know why . Because people, as they go through the doughnut hole, go beyond the doughnut hole and beyond the doughnut hole, the federal government picks up the costs. The costs of the namebrand, the namebrand pharmaceutical and my insurance commissioner was by to visit with me, and he mentioned that ive got a couple of that ive got twins in wyoming. And they have a rare disease, and there is a prescription for it. And the prescription is costing 30,000 a year each. Well, thats quite bit of money. The Insurance Company is picking that up. And then the namebrand Pharmaceutical Company bought out the generic one. This was generics that they were getting. So now they have to have namebrand, because the generic isnt on the market now. The cost . 1. 6 million each kid each year. Thats why the companies, why the Insurance Companies are dropping out of the market. I mean, wyoming is the least populated state in the nation. And an Insurance Company thats limited to wyoming is going to have to bare that 3. 2 million worth of cost. And so theyre going to be saying, were the only ones covering wyoming. Maybe we shouldnt provide insurance in wyoming either. We lost the other two companies already, and were down to just one. We have one, and they cover all of the counties. It kind of surprised me that the rules allow companies to just do some counties in some states. Also under obamacare, the insurance plans have to cover more. This includes plans for the patient who may not want a particular coverage but has to have this. It comes under the essential Health Benefits which are required through h. H. S. , and this has led to five million americans losing their insurance in the individual market. Reduction of lower cost plans. The high deductible Health Savings accounts were very important in reducing costs for individuals and families and businesses. A rand study in 2011 found an h. S. A. , a highly deductible plan with a deductible of at least 1,000 would reduce Health Care Spending an average of 14 . That savings incurred not only for patients but also for employers and for total health care expenditures. These more effective plans have been reduced under obamacare. Most of the young people on my staff are getting h. S. A. s and the reason they got h. S. A. s was because they did a little bit of a calculation. They did a little bit of financial literacy. They looked to see what the plan was for the full coverage and then they looked to see what an h. S. A. Would cost. And they said, well, gee, if i take the difference in the court cost between the regular insurance and h. S. A. And put that into one of these savings accounts that can grow tax free, in a maximum of three years i will cover any deductible that i might have. So they considered that to be good insurance and they got to make a lot of their decisions. But i dont think we want individuals making their decisions. That appears to be how obamacare is constructed. Then theres an increase in mandates, item number 4. The mandates existed before obamacare but dramatically increased with obamacare. It added mandates and guaranteed issue, community ratings, both previously tried in the state. Such mandates distort the marketplace and drive up the cost of care. Policies within states that had more mandates but actually have doubled the cost of their premiums. Number five is increase costs by constricting hospital and physical physician systems. Theres been consolidation with increased hospital mergers by 50 compared to 2009. There has been, also been movement of doctors practices to connect with Hospital Systems in both the contracts within the Hospital System and then physician systems increased cost to patients. For example, Group Practice charges increased 18 to 20 and Specialty Care charges increased even more. 34 after connecting the care with Hospital Systems. These changes in care, changing from private Practice Systems into hospitalbased systems have significantly driven up the cost of care for patients. Number six, medical legal Liability Reform has not been a part of the obamacare but is a significant driver of health care costs. Thats not considered why it and is considered to be about a 10 to 25 increase in total costs. Mrs. Murray mr. President , could i respectfully ask the chairman a question . The presiding officer does the senator yield for a question . Mr. Enzi i think this is under my time. Mrs. Murray it is. The presiding officer does the senator yield for a question . Mrs. Murray regarding time, i just have a question so members can know how to manage their time between now and the 45 minutes that we have for a vote. The presiding officer the democrats have zero. Mrs. Murray since weve only had this bill for an hour we have, as you can see, a number of senators who want to speak. I just would respectfully ask if there is any time we will have between now and the vote to make any comments since we just have had the bill for a very short amount of time that well be voting on that will obviously impact millions of americans. Mr. Enzi i think the answer i gave was perhaps your time might be better spent looking at the bill because the conversations that ive heard here didnt necessarily speak to the bill. They speak to the process. I think weve already covered that in three days. Mrs. Murray i. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from wyoming has the floor. A senator would he yield for a question about the bill. Hes clearly known more about it than we do because hes seen it for much longer than we have. The presiding officer the senator from wyoming has the floor. Mrs. Mccaskill he wont yield for a question . Mr. Enzi i want to continue on for why we want to change this. The gaylin Institute Grace marie turner wrote about 70 changes to obamacare that occurred after it went into effect. Those changes include employer mandate delay, individual mandate delays, preserved benefits to military and v. A. And reduction of funding to agencies used for implementation to obamacare including ipab, coops and the i. R. S. Coops are an interesting thing. I was suggesting during the time that obamacare was being considered that Small Business health plans might make a real difference in costs for Small Businesses. The only thing i can see on Small Businesses in here is that if youre a Small Business and youre over 50 employees, youve got a problem. I have people in wyoming that come to me and say ive got this business, its working really well. And in the next town over and most of the towns arent big enough to hold two of the same kind of store. In the next town over id like to put in the same kind of shop. And my question is, how many employees do you have . And most of them have said i have about 48 employees. I said how many will you need in the other store . They said, well, i hope to need the same amount of people. I said, well, the twhai this works, youre going to come under much increased health care costs. And you better take a look it at that before you make your expansion. It has cost jobs that way. With Small Business insurance insurance. Mrs. Murray mr. President. The presiding officer the senate will be in order. Mrs. Mccaskill will the senator from wyoming yield for a question about the new study of the impact of obamacare on jobs since he is speaking on the the presiding officer the senator from wyoming has the floor. Mrs. Mccaskill will he yield . Mr. Enzi i will not yield. I would appreciate the same courtesy from that side that i gave to you when you were doing your expositions about the health care, which included the things that ive mentioned that arent even in the bill. So our side has some time. I intend to use some of that time. As ive been through this process for a long time now, ive been on the health, education health, education, labor and Pensions Committee for the whole time that ive been here. Thats 20 years. Of course it wasnt health, education, labor and pensions when i first got here, but we thought that that was a clever acronym. Were from the federal government and were here to help you. And there are a lot of people back home that dont think we really help out much. But at any rate, the Small Business health plans, after three of us that were in the gang of six got thrown off of the, under the train or under the bus or whatever it was, Small Business health plans were changed to coops and they were given a significant amount of money to work with. And they havent fared very well ive got to find my coops here. Again, this isnt stuff that i wrote. This is stuff somebody else wrote. Somebody else wrote and footnoted and sent to all of us. Again, the name of the book is demystifying obamacare how to achieve health care reform. It gives some good suggestions. He does point out that obamacare is not a system of health care, nor is it health care reform. Its a system of health care control. People are told what theyre going to do. Obamacare was supposed to significantly reduce health care costs, but instead its dramatically increased costs for even those who are not directly within the obamacare program. Obamacare was supposed to increase access to care. But instead it actually reduced access, the availability to it care. Obamacare reduces the effectiveness of the Safety Net Program, which is so very important to economically poor americans. Under the bill that, an amendment that id like to see is one that would have covered the people that make a living under 11,000, 1,800 who cant get insurance. They dont get subsidies. They are left out in the cold. Its one of the corrections that should have been made. It wasnt made. Obamacare does reduce the effectiveness of the Safety Net Program which is important to economically poor americans. There are a lot of people out there in the states, several thousand in my state, that cant get insurance under that. The quality of health care in america was drieded when obamacare was passed but obamacare instead reduces the quality of u. S. Health care by reducing innovation. And it removes a persons ability to make his own decisions about his health care and that of his family, and it does so by removing the freedom to make those decisions by putting so many qualifications on it. Again, i repeat that we havent done anything to take people off of their policy if their their parents policy if theyre under the age of 26. We havent done anything to deny patients that have preexisting conditions. I heard that for three days. And we havent eliminated the lifetime caps on insurance. I heard that for weeks. So, there are things that need to be done. They could be done. Weve tried to do it in this bill, again, without constructive suggestions from the other side. Any recognition that there was any problem that ought to be solved, weve gone ahead. Its not my choice for the mechanism that would be used. Its the mechanism that was chosen by leadership, and it falls one of the things that makes this difficult is its a budget reconciliation, so there are things that have to be written in a budget form in order to comply. And that limits some of the things that i would have liked to have done that i think would have made quite a difference, and i think it would have been some things that the other side might have joined on and been excited about too. Again, were limited by the mechanism that we have here. We have no indication a senator mr. Chairman, would you yield for a question about a proposed solution. The presiding officer the senate will be in order. The senator from wyoming. Mr. Enzi the other side. The presiding officer the senate will be in order. Mr. Enzi i have yet to see the cooperation. And im not going to take questions. Im going to i really would appreciate it if you would just take some time to look at the bill. Mr. Murphy we got the bill an hour ago the presiding officer the senate will be in order. Mr. Murphy maybe the time will be better used if you allow us to ask questions about the bill. The presiding officer the senate will be in order. The senator from wyoming has the floor. Mr. Enzi yes, and i have an hour whether i use it or not. Like i say, for the past few days i have been yielding time to the other side. I havent gotten much satisfaction out of that. Ive listened to the last hour, and i didnt get any satisfaction out of that either. I did sit through all of it. I did listen to it. Again, its complaints about the process but not constructive suggestions on what could be done. Taxes and mandates and regulations and lack of competition in the marketplace and increasing costs. When i travel across wyoming, i have people that come up to me and they say, my Insurance Premium is bigger than my house payment. And its growing. And they said and if something happens to us, my deductible is bigger than my years premium. That shouldnt happen in america but thats where we are. And those arent isolated cases. Those are a lot of cases. And thats after the senate failed to pass the hak bill, wyoming senator mike enzi said, i am disappointed we were unable to make more progress at this time but this is not the end of the line. Maine senator, susan collins, one of three republicans to vote against the bill, released a statement saying, Neither Party has a monopoly on good ideas and we must Work Together to put together a bipartisan bill that fixes the flaws in the Affordable Care act and works for all americans. President trump tweeted soon after the vote, write, three republicans and 48 democrats let the American People down. As i said from the begin, let obamacare implode, then deal. Watch. Here are some of the remarks from senate leaders. Mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer, following the vote. So, mr. President , this is clearly a disappointing moment. From skyrocketing costs to plummeting choices and collapsing markets, our constituents have suffered through an awful lot under obamacare. We thought they deserve better. Its why i and many of my colleagues did as we promised and voted to repeal this failed law. We told our constituents we would vote that way, and when the moment came,