00:00And I thank my great friend from Connecticut, who cares about these issues so much and is one of our most effective advocates in the whole country for things like this, and thank him.
00:10And thank all of my colleagues who have come to the floor, Senator Whitehouse, Senator Markey, and so many others who are just eloquent spokespeople for helping people with health care.
00:20So today, Democrats are holding the floor on the 60th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid being signed into law to talking about the Republican all-out assault on our health care system.
00:34Look, the American people are just fed up, fed up up to here, with the soaring costs of health care.
00:43They're fed up with Donald Trump and Republicans cutting their health care to help the billionaire class.
00:49But unfortunately, Donald Trump and Republicans seem to live in a bubble.
00:55Because while they brag about how big and beautiful their bill is, the American people feel the opposite.
01:02The more Americans learn about the Republican bill, the more they're realizing that Donald Trump and Republicans sold them a raw deal.
01:10A raw deal.
01:11The Republicans' big, ugly portrayal, betrayal, is one of the most devastating bills for American health care that we have ever seen.
01:22The largest cut to Medicaid in American history, $1 trillion in health care cuts, 15 million people at risk of losing their health care coverage.
01:30Why?
01:31To pay for tax breaks for billionaires?
01:35Telling a mom whose daughter has cancer that she can no longer afford treatment and the child may die?
01:43Because some billionaire needs more money?
01:46I don't have anything against the billionaires.
01:48God bless them.
01:49They made a lot of money.
01:50They don't need a tax break at the expense of middle class, working class American families, poor American families that desperately need health care.
02:00What is big or beautiful about what they're doing?
02:03Nothing.
02:05It's even nervy to call it big and beautiful.
02:07They listen to Donald Trump who just makes it up as he goes along.
02:10And they say, yes, whatever he says, no matter how bad it is for the American people.
02:19So the American people don't want their health care cut to help out the ultra-rich.
02:24It's a nasty proposition from our Republican colleagues.
02:28And if I may add an aside, I want to be clear, it's not just health care that's in danger.
02:33It's not just health care.
02:35Today, we got a rather stunning admission from the administration on Social Security, another part of the safety net.
02:46It deserves some mention now before I give up the floor.
02:50Today, Secretary Besant admitted in a podcast that the so-called Trump accounts that the Republicans snuck into the big, ugly bill
02:58are, in Secretary Besant's eyes, a backdoor for privatizing Social Security.
03:05Let me repeat that.
03:06These are Besant's words.
03:09What they put and snuck into the reconciliation bill that they called BBB and we called the big, ugly betrayal
03:19is, quote, a backdoor for privatizing Social Security.
03:25America, do you hear that?
03:26From one end of the country to the other, probably the most popular federal program ever passed.
03:32And they want to privatize it.
03:34You know what privatize means?
03:35It means you're in trouble, Mr. or Mrs. Senior Citizen.
03:41Because when they privatize it and the big boys get hold of it, it's going to be much less money for you, if at all.
03:49But now we have it.
03:50Besant actually slipped and told the truth.
03:54Donald Trump and his government want to privatize Social Security.
03:59Another great lie from Donald Trump.
04:01He just lies at will.
04:03He promised, Donald Trump promised that Social Security, under his watch, quote, would not be touched,
04:08while at the same time his administration has strangled the program behind the scenes,
04:12laying off staff, shutting down offices,
04:14making it harder to claim benefits,
04:18and now they're openly talking about privatizing it.
04:23Rarely is the end game for Republicans so obvious.
04:26They're jamming, ramming historic cuts down Americans' throats to help their billionaire buddies.
04:31So in light of these attacks, as we mark the anniversary of Medicare and Social Security,
04:37it's a proud, proud day 60 years ago when America finally understood that we were a wealthy country
04:45and we had to use some of it to give people health care, the most important thing in their lives.
04:49If you ask the average American, what do you want most?
04:52I want to live long and healthy.
04:54And the reason we're living longer and healthier, for all the troubles in the system,
04:58is because we have Medicare and Medicaid.
05:02And this is the anniversary.
05:05So, this morning I was proud to introduce legislation to reverse
05:09the disastrous health care cuts and the big ugly betrayal.
05:13The bill is simple.
05:15It repeals the entire health care subtitle of the Republicans' bill
05:18and permanently extends the ACA premium tax credits that Republicans let expire.
05:25Extending these tax credits should be a no-brainer.
05:27It'll save Americans on the ACA hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars a year on their health insurance.
05:34Anyone who objects to this wants Americans to pay more for health care, plain and simple.
05:39The Senate should take up our legislation as soon as possible
05:43because the worst of the Republican cuts are already starting to take effect.
05:46It's not going to happen, Republican colleagues.
05:50You thought, oh, we can delay it so no one will know until after the 2026 elections.
05:54Bunk.
05:55It's starting already.
05:57Health care premiums are going to start spiking very soon.
06:00Hospitals and clinics are at great risk of closing now, not after 2026.
06:06Some have already shut their doors in Maine, Nebraska, and other states.
06:10People in rural communities are worried sick that they will have to travel even further to get health care
06:17in many rural counties, including some of mine in New York.
06:21The local hospital is the biggest employer.
06:23Those jobs will go by the wayside.
06:26Again, this is not what the American people want.
06:31People want health care that's easy to access, easy to navigate, easy to afford.
06:38Seniors, kids, people with disabilities, people who rely on Medicare and Medicaid
06:42don't want to see their coverage ripped away.
06:46Republicans should be working with Democrats to strengthen these programs,
06:49not slash and burn them to the ground.
06:51And don't go home and tell people lies,
06:56that your health care won't be affected by this bill.
06:59Of course it will.
07:00Even the own Republican gurus say,
07:02oh, talk about other things.
07:05Don't talk about health care, because they know how bad it is.
07:08It isn't too late, not too late, for Republicans to reverse course.
07:13But Democrats, meanwhile, will never, never, never,
07:16Senator Whitehouse, Senator Markey,
07:19Senator Hickenlooper,
07:20and all of my other Democratic colleagues
07:23will never stop fighting to fix our broken health care system.
07:27I yield the floor.
07:28I yield the floor.
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