Their health care and the needs they have. If the American Health care act is passed, which the republican plan that was passed over in the house, many West Virginians will lose their current insurance coverage. Individuals on the Medicaid Expansion would not be guaranteed coverage after 20 20. That means anybody who has gotten insurance for the first time, theres no guarantee they can keep it at all. The American Hospital Association Estimates that 68,200 West Virginians will lose their Health Care Coverage in 2018 and more will be without medicaid coverage by 2026. The American Health care act thats been sent by our republican friends in the house increased the cost to our state. The bill cuts 834 billion from medicaid. Meaning that the state would receive less federal medicaid funding and it would not increase if costs rise in the case of health crisis. In fact the American Hospital association in my state estimates that my state of West Virginia will lose 9. 8 billion over the next ten years in my great state and and all the hard work theyve done to go without health care is unbelievable. This bill would also increase costs for older, sicker, poorer rural West Virginia. And we have this type of a population in all of our states. Older mentioner would face americans would face higher costs because Insurance Companies would charge them five times more than a young ben fish beneficiary. That would increase the costs for Older Americans. We did a comparison of what that would actually look like. Lets say that a lowincome senior, somebody who hasnt gotten to medicare eligibility because of their age and over 80 of the poverty guidelines and paying 1,700 for the Affordable Care act. With this legislation they will pay upwards of 13,000, which they dont have. The cost to insurance to purchase insurance for lowincome seniors in West Virginia who buy insurance on the exchange could go up to almost 80 or of the cost 800 of the cost they are paying. I will share a story of a West Virginian losing her health care. She told her her story at a town hall and she asked me to make sure that i share this story with all of you. This will be entered into the record. So this is going to be stephanies story, and this is one of many stories. My name is Stephanie Frederickson and back in april of 2016, i woke up one day unable to turn my head due to stiffness in my head and back. At first i thought i slept in the wrong way. By early may, the pain had spread to every joint in my body. Then i began to experience painful spasms in my back, shoulder, and even jaw. I started having blurred vision. I also suffered from extreme exhaustion. On bad days, activities like getting out of bed and brushing my hair could tire me out for hours. I could go on and on. My illness affected my job as a property and Casualty Insurance agent. I missed more time from work first due to doctors appointments and then due to the worsening of my symptoms. Eventually i was forced to claim disability insurance. I had undergone multiple examinations and i thought the physicians would soon determine what was wrong and prescribe the appropriate treatment. That never happened. During this time i had physical therapy and after a couple of weeks of treatment i was able to move my neck again. By august i was diagnosed with systemic lupus, arthritis and severe spinal steno cinch s. My employer assured me they had my back, i received a letter from an attorney advising my employment was terminated. I was offered cobra, coverage for only three months. On february 1, 2017, i became one of millions who relied on the Affordable Care act the Affordable Care act. I was already familiar with the a. C. A. Because my husband had been covered by it since 2012. My husband works for a Small Business that doesnt offer Health Insurance. The a. C. A. Was about 350 less than for him to be added to my former employers plan. Some of you may think after hearing about my condition that they arent life ending, but you would wrong. I suffer from auto immune disease. Instead of resisting hostile foreign invaders, so my immune system will not fight off, but will actually help the bad things to spread and become stronger. Approximately 50 with systemic systemic lupus, a major organ will become affected. Between 10 and 15 of lupus patients will die prematurely. Many deaths are reported as a result of the complications such as kidney failure and not the lupus itself. One in three patients also have an auto immune disease. I fall into that category. I have systemic sclerosis, which can involve internal organs. It is often not symptommic until late stages of the disease. Lung involvement is among the leading cause of death. I shared my she shared her story and much more with me at a townhall in martinsburg. She asked me to share her story because she has tried to share it with some of all of elected officials herself, not just for herself, but also for the projected 24 million americans that are at risk of losing their insurance if the Affordable Care act is repealed and replaced with the American Health care act the act that was just passed in the house which is being sent to the senate. So shes asking us, please do not pass this. Do not repeal the a. C. A. , fix it. We all know it needs to be repaired. Not to mention all those who would no longer be able to afford it, especially the older, poor senior citizen. She said, i obviously have preexisting conditions. My job and my husbands job does not offer Health Insurance. Without a. C. A. , i would not be able to get the Health Insurance i need. I also feel the numbers offered by the c. B. O. , if insurance is available to me, i will not be able to afford it and there is also my husbands insurance to worry about. At the same time many young and Healthy People choose to take a gamble that nothing bad will happen to us. As a result, the a. C. A. Risk pool was not as diverse as it should have been. Robust we need to ensure that we have access to affordable. Imagine if those who supported the a. C. A. Got behind it for the good of the country. The Affordable Care act helped millions and it appears the American People realized this, even though fooled by the original rhetoric. Do what is right for the american citizens who have chosen each of us to represent all of them. As i pointed out, earlier many of those people have come around to a different way of thinking as of late. Im not so sure they wouldnt be there for all of us next time when we vote. We take away their health care or the health care of their siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, friends, coworkers, classmates and so on. A lot of those people would die as a result of not being able to keep their health care as well. Putting your politics, egos, agendas aside will save human lives. I ask you all not to repeal and replace the a. C. A. And instead Work Together to fix it and make improvements. Dont allow the c. E. O. s of Insurance Companies and the wealthiest americans to make more money at the expense of the americans who are the most youll vulnerable like the sick and the elderly and those with low incomes. Oppose the repeal of the a. C. A. And oppose any plan that could leave me and millions like me without Health Insurance or will increase our premiums or deductibles or reduce or eliminate any coverage. Our lives are depending on it and we are depending on you. As promised, i would read this letter, stephanies story. And im hoping that stephanie is listening and watching, but also for all the people she represents, people who have serious illnesses that will be left out or afraid they will be left out. Elderly people who will not be able to afford. One thing we can all do working together as republicans and congress, putting our Country First and the people in our states, is fix this. We know it needs to be fixed. Get off the political rhetoric. Quit blaming each other. This need to be repaired. We need to get more young people involved. We node the Market Forces to work and we need for everyone thats got insurance for the first time to use it in the most efficient, effective and appropriate way. Theres a lot that can be done, but not just by taking political votes and holding each other in harms way. Mr. President , i thank you for allowing me to tell stephanies story. I hope it works and i cant wait to sit down and work with all of my colleagues in this body. With that, i notice the lack of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call mr. Sullivan mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from alaska. Mr. Sullivan mr. President , i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Sullivan i ask unanimous consent that the preamble to s. Res. 178 be agreed to. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Sullivan i ask unanimous consent that the committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs be discharged from further consideration of h. R. 1238 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk h. R. 1238, an act to amend the Homeland Security act of 2002, and so forth and for other purposes. The presiding officer without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure. Mr. Sullivan i ask unanimous consent that the roberts amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Sullivan mr. President , i ask that my following remarks be laid out in the record in a different format or a different part of the record. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Sullivan mr. President , i wanted to talk this evening about a very serious threat to the United States. And thats the threat from north korea and what we in the congress should be doing about it. Now, every day, over the weekend, we saw another piece of news about how the north korean regime is again testing missiles, testing for Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. More missile launchers. Literally, two in the last two weeks. Mr. President , i would say that this is one of the most serious threats facing the United States of america right now, because what has now become clear, its no longer if kim jongun and the north korean regime will be able to range have the ability to range the United States of america with an intercontinental Ballistic Nuclear missile. Its no longer if. Its when. This has been stated time and time again, in open hearings we have had on the Armed Services committee with generals and some of the top experts in the United States. It used to be, hey, maybe he would have this capability sometime down the road. Maybe he will never get it. Now theyre not saying that any longer. Think about that. Every american should be thinking about that. Its no longer if, but when one of the craziest dictators in the world will have the capability to launch an intercontinental Ballistic Nuclear missile. Not just ranging my state, the great state of alaska, which unfortunately for me and my constituents is in the line of fire earlier than other states, or hawaii which faces similar risk to alaska, but were talking about the continental United States, mr. President. Were talking about chicago, new york city, los angeles. Not if, but when. So yesterday, in front of the Armed Services committee, the director of national intelligence, our good friend, former senator dan coats, when i was i asked him and general stuart, a top military officer for our intelligence agencies, when they thought this was going to happen. Well, its a classified number. Its a classified time. I actually think it should be unclassified, given their estimates, to let the American People know whats coming, because its probably a lot sooner, at least in the estimates, than most people think. So thats what were facing right now, and people should be concerned about it. Let me give you a little bit more on the facts of this, mr. President. Kim jongun, the leader of north korea, dictator of north korea, the unstable dictator of north korea, has publicly stated it is his goal to develop a nuclearcapable, Intercontinental Ballistic Missile that can strike the continental United States. Now, lets just be clear. This is a man who starves his own citizens, sentences them by the tens of thousands to inhumane labor camps and just a month ago allegedly assassinated his half brother in a malaysian airport with poison, a killer. In fact, since assuming power just five years ago, as my next chart shows, kim jongun has conducted more missile tests and twice as many Nuclear Tests as both his father and grandfather did in their 60 years of ruling over north korea. Look at these numbers. Thats the kim jongun regime. Kim jongil. Kim ilsung. So he is focused on this more than his father and grandfather were. As i mentioned, mr. President , it seems almost daily that theres another one of these missile tests or even Nuclear Tests. Now, one of the things you see in the press sometimes is, well, some of these missile tests are failing, and there have been failures and there have been notable successes, such as the countrys first intermediate range Ballistic Missile, its First Submarine launch Ballistic Missile, its first solid fuel launch missile and its ability to put satellites in space. This is actual progress. This is significant progress. On the nuclear side, the countrys fifth test and kim jonguns third had an estimated yield in terms of its power of 15 to 20 kilotons, approximately the size of the nuclear bomb dropped on hiroshima. And while this yield was not as large as they were expecting, the tests again on the nuclear sides showed steady progress. In their Nuclear Program and steady progress in their Ballistic Missile program. So what does all this mean . Why is kim jongun testing so often, and even though he fails, hes still learning . Thats exactly what the commander of u. S. Strategic command said last week or last month during a senate Armed Services hearing. General john heighton stated north korea is going test, fail, test, fail, succeed, and theyre learning, and as you can see them learning, theyre developing the capabilities for Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Thats how it works in the rocket business. So, mr. President , thats happening right now. Thats happening right now. Thats in the news right now. And also in the news is what the u. S. Has been doing for our allies, to protect our allies from this and other threats. So let me give you an example. There has been a lot of news about the thad deployment. A Missile Defense system in south korea deployed by the u. S. Army to protect our troops and south korean citizens. To protect our troops in korea, protect our troops in japan and to protect our allies. Now, im very supportive of this, very supportive of this. The president is on his middle east trip. Hes going to europe now. He mentioned just a few days ago maybe having a thad system in saudi arabia, an american system to help protect the saudis from the Iranian Missile threat. Again, im very supportive. As the presiding officer knows in our last National Defense authorization act, we had significant authorization and funding to help israel protect itself with a Missile Defense system, the iron dome system where we have been working with the israelis to help them to help their citizens be protected against an Iranian Missile threat. Again, mr. President , i support all of these. I applaud these efforts, i have supported them, i have voted for them, but it does beg the question that some of my constituents back home in alaska are beginning to ask, and im sure other americans are asking in every state in the country, what about us . What about the u. S. . What about the u. S. Homeland . Isnt that where kim jongun said he wants to launch intercontinental Ballistic Nuclear missiles . This is exactly where he said he wants to do it. So, mr. President , the bottom line is we need to do much more to protect ourselves. We need to do much more to protect the United States of america. Yes, we need to protect our allies, but we need to start focusing a little bit more on home, and we need to start focusing now. In fact, if we know this threat is coming, which we do there has been testimony after testimony i think it would be the height of irresponsibility to not start working on increasing americas homeland Missile Defense. Thats what we should be doing. And, mr. President , thats why ive introduced a very bipartisan bill called the advancing americas Missile Defense act of 2017. Again, republicans and democrats are already on the bill. I believe the presiding officer is now a cosponsor. And id like to paint a scenario that we all know will happen unfortunately sometime in the future, again, on why this bill is so important, why what we need to be doing on Missile Defense is so important. Just think through the headline. Lets assume a couple of years down the road kim jongun has this capability to launch an Intercontinental Nuclear Ballistic Missile to hit a lower 48 city. Well, we know thats going to start leaking out. The headlines will be front page, banner headlines. Dictator of north korea can range chicago, new york, it will be all over the news. It will be the only thing we talk about. There will be enormous pressure on the white house and others to do something about this. And on that day when we see the banner headlines and a lot of americans will be very nervous, the American People, the American Media will look at the people and the pentagon, will look at the people in congress, will look at the leadership in the white house in the last three critical questions are we safe . Did we see this coming . And have we been doing anything about it . And if so, what . Thats what theyre going to ask. We know that day is coming. Were not sure when, but we know that day is coming. Again, not if, but when. And people are going to ask that question. If we know that and we do we need to be able to say to all three of those questions, whether it is the secretary of defense, whether it is the president of the United States, whether it is all of us here, democrats and republicans in the senate, we need to be able to answer the American People and say, yes, we are safe. Yes, we saw this coming, and, yes, we have the worlds most robust, technologically advanc advanced, capable Missile Defense system that will with near certainty shoot down any north Korean Missile launched at the United States and give our president and the congress the strategic time and space to make potentially worldaltering decisions. We know this is coming. And i think we should be doing everything we can in our power to focus on it. So we will be safe, and we will be able to say yes to all three of those questions if we begun to seriously focus on americas Missile Defense, which is what our legislation is all about. Now, unfortunately, mr. President , our nation has not always been focused on funding our Missile Defense system, and in many ways the funding has been erratic. As the center senator strategic and International Studies put it recently, such funding for americas Missile Defense has been marked by high ambition followed by increasing modesty. Well, i think the time for modesty on an issue of this importance is over. But from 2006 to 2016, homeland Missile Defense funding adjusted for inflation declined nearly 50 . And homeland Missile Defense testing declined more than 83 . The goal of our bill is to change that. To change that significantly. Among other elements, advancing americas Missile Defense act will grow our u. S. Based missile interceptors from what we have now, which is about 44, to as many as 72. And it will require our military to look at having up to 100 interceptors distributed across the United States. The bill will also authorize the more Rapid Deployment of new and better kill vehicles. These are the bullets essentially is on top of the warheads. And it will enable a layer of spacebased sensors and radars to track missile threats from launch to intercept, a Technological Advancement that would improve all Missile Systems to make sure we had a layered Missile Defense, whether it is thaad in asia, aegis ashore or on ships, or our Missile Defense system here at home. All of it integrated. Right now we dont have that. The bill also will increase the pace of Missile Defense testing to allow u. S. Forces to learn from actual launches of our defenses and increase the confidence we have in our system and its effectiveness. And, mr. President , this is very important the department of defense needs to change the culture around Missile Defense. Testing regularly, conducting more flight tests, and fortunately not every test will be a success. It is okay to fail because we learn from failure. I dont like to admit on the senate floor of the United States senate that we can learn something from the north currency, but thats the from the north koreans, but thats the approach theyre taking. Thats why its missile and Nuclear Programs are advancing so rapidly. Theyre not afraid to fail. What we need to do is enhance our testing, enhance our Missile Defense, enhance our capabilities because, as i mentioned at the outset, mr. President , its no longer if but when. That day ismarks and we need to be that day is coming, and we need to be ready for it, and the United States senate can lead in addressing this very significant challenge to Americas National security. Im encouraged that our bill has already gotten strong bipartisan support democrats and republicans because they know how important it is. I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle truly understand the significance and seriousness of this threat, and i hope they can continue to support our advancing americas Missile Defense act of 2017. Theres very few Foreign Policy and National Security issues that are more important than making sure we address this threat to americas security. I yield the floor. Mr. Merkley mr. President . The presiding officer the senator oregon. Mr. Merkley i ask unanimous consent that my intern, chelsea shwinen be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the day. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Merkley our government can be summed up in three words, we the people. The first three words of our constitution, the first three words that our founders wrote in supersized font so that no matter where you were, you would remember that this is the guiding mission of our form of government. This is the guiding mission of the constitution. From across the room, you cant read the fine print of article 1 and article 2 and so forth, but you can see what the constitution is all about, we the people. Lincoln captured that notion when he spoke in his gettysburg address saying we are a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people. He didnt he didnt describe our system of government as of, by, and for the privileged and our founders didnt write we the powerful and privileged at the start of our constitution. Thats what makes us different from the governments that dominated europe, where the rich and powerful governed on behalf of the rich and powerful. But america turned that on its head with our system of government, our system of democratic republic governance. And, therefore, were at a very strange moment right now because just 20 daysing days just 2s ago, a small majority of the oregon house voted for a bill that was all about government of and by the powerful for the powerful, of and by the privileged for the privileged not by the people for the people. They voted for trumpcare. We witnessed the house passing this who ar passing this horc piece of legislation that will ensure that millions of lowincome and middleclass americans are worse off, receives less care, have to pay more for their health care, assuming they can even get it. But, on the other hand, the bill delivers 600 billion in platinumplated tax benefits to the richest americans. Picture the situation our president holding a celebration at the white house, standing on a platform crushing more than 20 Million People in terms of their access to health care while celebrating a golden plate with platinumplated gifts to the wealthiest americans. Thats what happened 20 days ago in the house of representatives. Thats not a pretty sight and certainly doesnt fit the mission of our nation. Franklin roosevelt shared his vision of how we progress in the following fashion he said, the test our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough to those who have little. But the trump principle that was supported by 217 house members 20 days ago is the opposite. The trump principle is that the test of our progress is whether we add more to the abundance of those to have most while taking away from those who do not have enough. Thats what happened. Thats the difference between Franklin Roosevelt and government of, by, and for the people and President Trump and 217 house members who passed a bill of, by, and for the powerful and the privileged. Its astonishing to me that this happened. The american citizens when they heard about the first version of this bill trumpcare 1. 0, they overflowed the inboxes. They proceeded to fill the streets. They flooded the phone lines. And people up here heard them and said, we understand. We dont have the votes to pass this trumpcare 1. 0 in the house because we hear you telling us how horrific this bill is. So they went back to work, but they produced a bill that was even worse than trumpcare 1. 0 trumpcare 2. 0. They took an already bad bill. They made it more painful and more damaging and they jammed it through without a hearing on the house side. They jammed it through without a c. B. O. Estimate of how many people it would hurt or what it would cost. They jammed it through because they didnt want to listen to the American People who said what youre doing is diabolical and wrong. And they didnt want to listen to the experts who said the same thing. The experts weighed in from every direction nonpartisan analysis, Health Policy experts, the associations that work in health care, the groups that represent doctors and nurses and patients. The American Medical Association said, quote, we are deeply concerned that the ahca which ill just simply call trumpcare to keep from confusion we are deeply concerned that trumpcare would result in millions of americans losing their Current Health coverage and that nothing in the macarthur amendment remedies the shortcomings of the underlying bill. The aarp called the bill and i quote a bad deal for Older Americans aged 50 through 64 because it would significantly increase premiums for older adults and spike costs dramatically for lower and moderateincome older adults. The aarp went on to state that the amendment that converted trumpcare 1. 0 into trumpcare 2. 0 was making a bad bill worse because it, quote, establishes state waivers that allow Insurance Companies to charge Older Americans and people with preexisting Health Conditions higher premiums and weaken crit icle consumer critical consumer protections. The american cancer society, cancer action network, weighed in. The American Diabetes association weighed in. The American Academy of pediatrics weighed in. American heart association, the American Lung association, the march of dimes, and many, many other groups that are familiar householdknown organizations. These groups, groups that understand our Health Care System, they all came out. They made it public that this plan, this trumpcare 2. 0, is a bad plan. It endangers americans health. But 217 members of the house didnt listen. 217 members voted for the trump principle of crushing ordinary americans to deliver 600 billion in platinumplated benefits to the richest americans. If the house had listen, and put that bill six feet under with a stake through its heart, i wouldnt be standing here today. But they sent that bill over to the senate. Its here for the senate to consider. A hundred senators now have to decide, are they behind the principle of we, the people, or have they decided they want a different constitution, one thats about we the privileged and we the powerful . I know when i took my oath of office, i like the constitution the way its written. I like the principle behind this constitution. So its of major concern that the senate might proceed to adopt trumpcare 2. 0 or modify it into trumpcare 3. 0. Now, today we did have the Congressional Budget Office score release that told us and evaluated trumpcare 2. 0. It found that more than 20 million americans, 23 million to be exact in their estimate, will be uninsured under the trumpcare than under the Affordable Care act. That would bring the total who would be uninsured to the much higher total of 51 Million People under the age of 65 by the year 2026. Theyre double the number of uninsured. Now, that hurts real people. It hurts every single one of those individuals who Lose Health Care. My state of oregon, just one piece of this bill which crushes the expansion of medicaid or in oregon its known as the Oregon Health plan, just that one provision strips health care from about 400,000 oregonians. Thats a lot of human carnage. Thats enough people that if they were standing hand to hand, they would stretch from the Pacific Ocean 400 miles to the border with idaho. Thats how many oregonians would be impacted by this. But thats just the people who lose access to health care. You have many, many others who would go to their clinic or go to their hospital and find that the clinic and hospital have either limited their services or shut down. Because you see, our clinics have gained tremendously from the investment under obamacare, and in addition theyve gained tremendously from the fact that people who came through the door had insurance to pay their bills. So its a reduction on the uninsured individuals who come through the door, the ones that cant pay for their care, thats dropped so much. With more people paying for their care, the finance of the clinics and the finance of the hospitals are stronger. So trumpcare not only hurts the 23 million who will lose insurance, it hurts everybody in our health system, every american by degrading our clinics and degrading our hospitals. Individuals share their stories and their concerns. People like lauren rizzo in portland. A single mother and Small Business owner who is alive today thanks to the Health Insurance she received through obamacare. About two years ago lauren wasnt feeling well so she went to get checked out at a clinic. Lauren figured shed get a prescription for antibiotics and be sent on her way. Instead, she was told to head straight to the emergency room where she received emergency surgery to remove a 7 and a halfinch mass from her abdomen. If lauren hadnt gotten insurance through the Affordable Care act, obamacare, she wouldnt have gotten checked out. And she certainly couldnt have afforded the 40,000 surgery bill and the nearly 60,000 in followup care without going bankrupt. So very likely without insurance, she would have had a mastin mass continuing to grow in her abdomen. This may have been a life and death issue for her. Heres what she has to say in her own words. Im a healthy and contributing member of society who is able to contribute and pay my way and continue to grow and succeed rather than someone who is slipping through the cracks and needed assistance to get by. She continues. It seems to me that turning people who are getting by into people who are falling behind is good for no one, even if there is no compassion in our leaderships health care plan, i would have hoped someone would have injected a note of common sense. Her point made very poe poeticay and poignantly is if you cant get health care, you cant stay as a productive member of society. So its not just about your quality of life, its not just about the fact that you might suffer and you might die, but its also about whether you can be healed and contribute. Thats an important piece of why health care is so important. Paul bright of sweet home wrote to my office to share his story about finally having Health Care Thanks to the Medicaid Expansion. Paul wrote, im one of those hardworking americans, republicans praise mightily. An entrepreneur, selfemployed, buying american, and im on medicaid thanks to the a. C. A. Without a. C. A. , that is obamacare, id have no insurance at all to cover my prescriptions to keep me healthy so i can continue to work. Do i want to be making so little income that i qualify for medicaid . No. I want to be making a good income. The only way i can continue working 60 hours a week to increase my Household Income is if i can keep my prescriptions and doctor appointments. Without the medicine i need, i will become permanently dependent on government services, not just Health Insurance, but i will start requiring food stamps and housing and utilities assistance. He concludes, the smart economic decision is to keep me healthy so i can grow our economy. Pauls right, keeping him healthy isnt just the moral thing to do. Its a smart economic decision. But under trumpcare 2. 0, paul probably wouldnt stay healthy because he wouldnt be able to afford the appointments and he wouldnt be able to afford the prescriptions. Hed fall through the cracks. Then theres a grandmother in lakes on wee ga lake oswega, oregon who wrote to me about her grandson living with a neurological order who as been hospitalized three times over the past five years. The first time that this womans grandson was hospitalized at the age of 8, his fathers insurance covered a threeweek hospital stay. At the time that was enough to get the care he needed. But then we fast forward to last year. Her grandson now 12 needed to be hospitalized for several weeks followed by residential treatment followed by a brief period in a transitional school, a tenmonth period in total. And known ten months were covered because of obamacare, because of the a. C. A. And for the past several months, this young boy has been home recovering successfully. The a. C. A. Made that possible. Carol from turner writes to me and to share her words. She doesnt know how shell manage for her husband is kicked out of his nursing home because of trumpcare 2. 0. She writes, my husband lives in a nursing home. He does not remember me after 33 years of marriage. I worry now will the new Health Care Laws and medicare which i will get in 2018 cover us . Will he have to come home for me to take care of him, even though i cannot stand for more than a few minutes due to congestive heart failure. And carol continued, i think there should be incentives to do whats best for your health written into the law, not take it away. Without the a. C. A. , she concludes, and i quote, i surely will die. So here is a woman married to her husband for 33 years, but he has dementia, so bad that he doesnt recognize his wife. She would love to care for him at home but she cant. She has congestive heart failure. And his condition is extremely severe. Medicaid funds more than half of the nursing home admissions in the United States of america. It isnt simply about assisting struggling families. It isnt about hardworking but low income families. Its also about taking care of our seniors. So she has a double challenge, her own care and her husbands care. Without the a. C. A. , she said, i surely will die. Should that be the Health Care System we have in the United States of america . Where people are on the point of losing their access to health care with their own lives at stake . I think back to that issue of piece of mind that a good Health Care System, everyone has a piece of peace of mind that their loved one will get the care when theyre sick. That their loved one will not go bankrupt when they get sick. And we made big strides in that direction. The 400,000 folks covered by the expansion of medicare alone in oregon represent a big stride in that direction. The tens of thousands who gained access to care on the exchange because they could now get Community Pricing and not be fended off by a preexisting condition or blocked by a preexisting condition. They have more peace of mind. We could do better. We could have a much simpler system. We could have a much more efficient system, but lets not go backward and throw millions and millions and millions of americans out of health care. Last night i had the pleasure to speak with carol on the phone and talk to her a little more about her life. And she told me about the cataract surgery that she needed in order to be able to continue to see and she said without that, shed lose her license and if wouldnt have a license, she couldnt go to the Grocery Store to feed herself and her son because they live out in the country, an hours drive from everything. And she told me about the various preexisting conditions she has to manage, conditions that would certainly prevent her from Getting Health Care without the a. C. A. , conditions that without medical appointments and prescriptions would cause her health to deteriorate rapidly without the a. C. A. And thats what she means when she says surely i would die. Its a powerful story, but its certainly not unique. Every day im receiving stories like carols, story after story with folks just trying to have the peace of mind of access to health care. As well as stories from constituents who are angry at President Trump and quite frankly, angry at the 217 republicans who voted for government by and for the powerful and privileged over in the house 20 days ago. Theyre also upset about the breaking of promises to the American People. They heard the promises over the past campaign year. The president made promise after promise on health care, and his Health Care Bill breaks promise after promise. President trump promised his plan would provide health care for all. But it doesnt. According to the analysis we received just today, 14 million americans would Lose Health Care almost immediately and with another ten years, that would grow to about 23 million americans. Thats not health care for all. Thats health care for 23 million less. Promise broken. President trump said over and over again his plan would make health care cheaper. Well, the c. B. O. Estimates that premiums under trumpcare 2. 0 will go up 20 next year, but check this out. Heres the basic math. A 6 had 4yearold man 64yearold man earning 26,000 a year would have his monthly cost for health care go up from 40 a month to 1,200 a month. Now, when youre earning 26,50 26,5000, by the time you take in your rent, utilities, car payment, and groceries, you dont have much less. But you can still get Health Insurance if it costs 140 a month. If out of that little more than 2,000 a month you have to pay 1,200, there is no way you can afford that insurance. President trump promised that health care would be more affordable, promised promise broken. The president promised that under his plan americans would have Better Health care. Well, currently youre guaranteed essential benefits, emergency services, rehabilitation services, maternity, and newborn care, Mental Health and addiction treatment, hospital treatment, Pediatric Services essential benefits, those are the things you expect in a Health Care System would be covered. But trumpcare throws out the requirement to have essential care benefits. It means a state choose to let insurers sell barebone plans. Youre making a payment and you think you have insurance and you get sick or injured and you find out it doesnt cover anything. Thats not health care. That is predatory insurance policies and thats what allowed under trumpcare. So, mr. President , you promised Better Health care and you delivered predatory policies. Promise broken. The president said he would make sure he kept the protections for preexisting conditions. He promised it. He repromised it. He triple promised it. He continued to promise it, but the amendment that he accepted for trumpcare 2. 0 passed 20 days ago by 217 members of the house in favor of government of, by, and for the powerful and the privileged, that amendment broke that promise and said states could allow the elimination of Community Pricing. What that means is you have preexisting conditions, but you can get the policy at the same price as everyone else. You destroy Community Pricing, and it means when you file for your policy, the Insurance Company says, well, lets see just what your problems are. Oh, we see you have asthma. Were going to charge you more. Oh, we see that you have diabetes. Were going charge you a lot more. We see that you delivered a child which can create health care problems, were going to charge you more because youre a mother. We see that you had an episode of cancer. Its in remission. Well, good news, but the odds of you getting it are higher than someone else, were going to charge you more. Because their goal is to make sure that those people who have preexisting conditions are not in their insurance pool because they will make more money. That is an assault an assault on the premise that everyone will be able to have Affordable Health care because those folks were told because you have this this this condition or that condition or that condition, well charge you more. The charges will be so high, and are intended to be so high, they wont be able to buy insurance so they wont be covered. Thats part of the reason that c. B. O. Has analyzed the fact that there will be 23 million more people without insurance come 2026 under trumpcare than under current law. You can think of this as a tax. For those who can actually summon the funds, its a tax on sick people. The sicker you are, the higher tax bill you pay under trumpcare. So when the president promised not once or twice or thrice, but multiplele times to make sure multiple times to make sure that we protect the people with preexisting conditions, thats a promise broken. And the president promised not to cut medicaid. As i was waiting to speak last night, i was watching a local Television Channel and they were playing tapes of one rally after another one after another where President Trump went out there and said, we will not touch medicaid or medicare or social security. He was emphatic. He was passionate. He was convincing. And he broke that promise under trumpcare. It cuts 880 billion out of medicaid. And on top of that, the budget that he released yesterday calls for 600 billion more on top of the 880. If you cut 1. 5 trillion from medicaid, thats the promise broken. Its not broken by a little. When the president said he wouldnt touch medicaid, he didnt proceed to break that promise in a tiny way. He broke it with a sledgehammer. He demolished it. He turned it into dust because he cuts 1. 5 trillion out of medicaid. You know, medicaid doesnt just help provide health care to hardworking, struggling families. It pays for nearly half of all births in america. It provides coverage for one out of three Children Health care for one out of three children in america. It pays for nursing home care for more than half of the american seniors who need nursing home care. Medicaid is the single largest payer for Mental Health and Substance Abuse disorders. A lot of folks here have come down to this floor, both parties, to talk about taking on the opioid epidemic, a Substance Abuse epidemic, a highly addictive drug, doing great damage across america. Medicaid is the largest payer for Substance Abuse disorders in america and trumpcare cuts it by 1. 5 trillion. Two out of three School Districts rely on medicaid funds to provide services to children with disabilities. So there we have it, one broken promise after another. And now we turn to the senate because its time for this chamber to respond. The only appropriate response is for us all to get together, dig a deep hole here in the floor of the chamber and throw that house bill trumpcare 2. 0 into it. Light it on fire, drive a stake through it, make sure it never sees the light of day. Thats the only reaction that honors our we the people government. Thats the only action that would honor the promises that President Trump made to the nation while campaigning. Now, a group of my colleagues is Holding Secret meetings far from the public to work out a new version of Trumpcare Trumpcare 3point0. Now, now there it is no bipartisan dialogue on this and im certainly not invited to listen in so i cant tell you what they are coming up with, but i can tell you this, its a process completely different than when we had a bipartisan over yearlong process to debate and examine the question of the Affordable Care act obamacare. The finance Committee Held 53 hearings. They spent eight days marking up the bill. That was the committees longest markup in over two decades. They considered 135 amendments. That was one of the two major committees that worked on obamacare. The other was the health, education, labor and pension, or known as the help commodity. They held 47 help committee. They held 47 hearings. They held public, bipartisan, press welcomed meetings, hearings, roundtables and walk throughs and had a monthlong markup. I was on the committee. We had a square table. Two each side we had republicans and democrats. We had 333 bipartisan we had 300 bipartisan amendments. 160 amendments were adopted from my republican colleagues 160 amendments from across the aisle. Thats the type of bipartisan work that was done. Lets compare that to trumpcare. No hearings in the house, no public display of the bill for a lengthy period for it to be publicly analyzed, virtually no chance for the public to see the actual text and weigh in, passed under a process of Rapid Transit through the floor of the house, and then over here to the senate. Is the finance committee now Holding Hearings similar to what we did years ago on obamacare . That was 53 hearings. How many hearings has the finance committee had on trumpcare 3. O . Not one. The health, education, labor and pensions Committee Held 47 hearings and walkthroughs. How many hearings has the help committee had on trumpcare . Not a single one. Secrecy is the guiding principle of the day. Secrecy that might produce another version of trumpcare that will be devastating to millions and millions and millions of americans. So of, of course, you dont want the public to watch that process. Of course you dont want to have weeks of hearings and markups that enable people to have hundreds of bipartisan amendments. If youre trying to push through something to destroy health care in america, you want to do it as secretly as possible. Thats whats happening in the senate at this very moment. That is not the kind of process you should have in a democratic republic. Thats the kind of process that you have when youre about to do something diabolical and destructive that will hurt we the people. Obamacare, the Affordable Care act, isnt perfect. We could Work Together to make it much better. We could say no to all of the strategies that the Trump Administration is doing right now to undermine the success of the marketplace. Now, remember, the marketplace was the republican idea. That was the republican plan have a marketplace where private health care Insurance Companies compete. Thats what came from across the aisle. Now the Trump Administration is doing everything it can to undermine that particular strategy. They are hesitating about whether to provide the cost savings funds that allow the companies to provide lower premiums and lower deductibles. That hesitation means Insurance Companies cant price out their policies for next year so they either have to exit the exchange or raise the price of their policies a lot higher. The Trump Administration is deliberately sabotaging the marketplace. And then theres the fact that the whole point of the market is to make it simple from Insurance Companies to go from one state to another state because you have customers all at the is sae time making the same decisions, you can sell your policies easily. But the point is a new Company Coming into the marketplace is concerned that they will get a disproportionate share of those who are very ill. And so there is an adjustment that takes place to say no, you can come into this marketplace, and well guarantee that you will get an adjustment if your patients end up being sicker than the average patients. Thats intended to make the multiple insurers come in and compete with each other. But my republican colleagues destroyed that provision. Its called risk corridors. They destroyed that provision. So theyre destroying the ability for companies to competently, responsibly come into the insurance marketplace and participate in the exchanges. So not only do we have the diabolical trumpcare 2. 0 and the secret 13 proceeding to develop trumpcare 3. 0, we also have the administration destroying the obamacare exchanges, the marketplaces, which were the republican idea that was brought into that bill. I will do all i can to make sure we dont throw out health care for 23 million americans. I hope every single senator here having come to this body and i know holding dearly this constitution will fight for we, the people, and not we the powerful and privileged. Well will fight against a bill that not just hurts health care for those 23 Million People but destroys Health Care Institutions for everybody else because it undermines the financing of both the clinics and the hospitals. We are all hearing in our own states from our lauras and our pauls and our carols and our grandmothers talking about their 12yearold grandsons. Were hearing from them all, saying just say no. Do your job. Make our Health Care System work better. Live up to your commitment for we the people, democratic republic, to fight for our nation of, by, and for the people. Thank you, madam president mr. President. Thank you, mr. President. And i note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer will the senator withhold his request . Mr. Merkley i will withhold the request. The presiding officer under the previous order, the Senate Previous order, the Senate Senate has gambled out. Earlier today members confirmed the nomination of John Sullivan to be deputy secretary of state. They voted to advance the nomination for the u. S. Circuit judge for the sixth circuit with a final vote on thursday. Also vote to expand the nomination of Courtney Elwood to be cia general counsel. Follow us five on cspan to when members dabble back in. Cspans washington journal, five every day with his news the issues that impact you. Florida republican congressman francis rudy will be with us to talk about President Trumps meeting this week and leaders in a telling g7 countries. Be sure to watch it cspans washington journal, joined the discussion. Tomorrow, testimony from treasury secretary Stephen Mnuchin on President Trumps at 2018 budget proposal. Hell speak in front of the finance committee. It starts five thursday at 10 0n three. This Holiday Weekend on book tv, on cspan2. Saturday at 8 30 p. M. Eastern, former u. S. Secretary of state condoleezza right looks at democracy around the world in her book democracy. Americans were blessed with Founding Fathers who understood an institutional design that would protect our liberties. Or right to say what we think. To be free at night, to have the dignity that comes with having those who have to govern you and ask for your consent. But if we were blessed with that and we believe that we were endowed by our creator with those rights, it cannot be true for us and not for them. Sunday at 2 20 p. M. , Columbia University on the controversies around her perceptions of sounding black. In his book talking back, talking black. We need to be comfortable same black people have a slightly different sound because they spend more time with one another just like why people sound like one another because they spend more time with one another. Thats not racist, its just true and harmless. Monday former president george w. Bush on his book, portraits of courage. The first guy a painted was major chris turner and i said why are you here . He said because i cannot get out of my mind seeing a buddy of mine killed. I paint pictures and photos and i am painting turner, im thinking what that must be like in his mind. For more go to booktv. Org. Sunday on q a. Iva friend who is it vaporized along with the six Minute Security team that i had built together and sent to the airport. It took three weeks to separate them all. War is not a game, its not a funny thing. Former counterterrorism member on his most recent book, and attacking isis, how to destroy the cyber jihad. It actually came out of hacking isis while we were writing hacking isis we found that there were two hacks that were done against one tv five in france. Another against the german parliament. They were attributed to isis. While we were studying that we learn that the methodolog metho, the malware, and the place with the servers terminated that was stealing information were not isis, they are now ap t28, cozy beer. That is the name that the Cyber Security company gave for their
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