00:00Okay. Good afternoon, everybody. And I'm pleased to be joined by my colleagues, Senators Warnock
00:07and Klobuchar. And I want to thank them for being here, and not just for being here,
00:13but for their really tireless work on lowering costs that are going to just hurt so many
00:18Americans in a few short weeks. Unfortunately, our Republican colleagues refused to do what
00:29they should have done. I want everyone here to understand just what happened on the Senate floor.
00:36Senate Republicans just shoved the American people off the side of a cliff with no parachute and with
00:42an anchor tied to their feet. Republicans just blocked the Democrats' bill for a clean, simple
00:51extension of the ACA tax credits. The last chance they had to ensure people's premiums do not skyrocket
01:00in the coming months. Democrats did the work, but now Republicans chose the consequences.
01:07Now Republicans have all but guaranteed that tens of millions of people will see their premiums double
01:14or triple or more next year. Republicans now own America's healthcare crisis. Democrats tried all
01:22year to stop this healthcare crisis. We put real legislation on the floor to ensure these tax credits
01:29do not expire. And Republicans blocked it, not once, not twice, but 13 times throughout the year.
01:3713 times they voted against our extensions of the ACA credits. 13 times. We tried over and over again.
01:46Then we tried one year. We tried two years. We tried three years. We tried everything. They kept saying no.
01:52And of course, Republicans had every opportunity to negotiate, to join us, or for a serious plan to
01:58prevent premiums from rising after January 1st. Instead, today, Republicans voted down the only plan
02:06that would have stopped the premium spikes, while having no plan of their own. Until a few days ago,
02:16they had no plan at all to put on the floor. They were so embarrassed they had no plan, they said they
02:21put a little bubble gum and scotch tape together and put together a ridiculous, phony plan that simply
02:29helps the insurance companies. It was a list of, of right, it was a right-wing wish list. More junk
02:38insurance, fewer protections, restrictions on women's healthcare. Their plan, their junk insurance plan,
02:46it's called a junk insurance plan, has been ridiculed over and over and over again. And it
02:54couldn't even pass the Republican Senate. Today, actually, our proposal got more votes than theirs.
03:02Our vote actually had a majority. Theirs did not. Or theirs, no, our vote had, had a majority and was
03:08bipartisan. And theirs was not. After today's vote, the American healthcare crisis is now 100 percent
03:18on Republican shoulders. On January 1st, premiums are going to go up. All of us have had people crying
03:26in front of us, in our arms, saying, what are they going to do when they've cut off the money that
03:34pays for my daughter's cancer treatment? What am I going to do? They've told me that my dad or mom
03:40is going to be kicked out of their nursing home, which is going to close. What am I going to do
03:47when I have to change doctors who I've worked with for years on curing a disease that my spouse has?
03:58Well, coverage got a lot harder to afford and families are facing a lot of impossible,
04:04horrible choices. And Republicans owned every bit of it because of the way they voted today.
04:09Shameful. Shame on them. They all seem to, so many of them seem to be in a bubble. You know,
04:17we know Trump's in a bubble when he calls affordability a hoax. And he says he doesn't
04:23want to do anything to help people with health care. They're in a bubble too. The suffering of
04:29people is going to be enormous and heart wrenching. How can Republicans look themselves in the mirror
04:35knowing they have to go back home and tell people over the holidays, I voted to send your premiums up,
04:42Republicans are going to say. They're going to say they voted. Are they going to tell their
04:46constituents they voted to double their monthly premiums? Are they going to tell their constituents
04:51I voted to get you sick and go broke? Because that's what Republicans did by blocking a clean
05:03extension of the tax credits. When families open their health insurance bills in January
05:10and see the sky high premium staring them back, staring back at them, they will know.
05:15The American people will know that Democrats fought to stop these hikes,
05:19but Republicans fought to guarantee that they happen. Republicans blocked the solution. They
05:25blocked the backup solution. They blocked any negotiations, no matter how hard we tried.
05:30And now the next chapter begins. Republicans will have to answer to the American people,
05:36explain to the country why they chose higher health care costs over real solutions.
05:44They must, Republicans must answer for why people will lose coverage. Republicans must answer
05:49why families see premiums double and triple over the next year. Democrats' focus does not change.
05:56We fought like hell to stop these hikes. And we're going to continue to fight like hell to bring costs
06:02down for the American people on health care, on housing, on electric rates, on groceries. But
06:09Republicans are fighting like hell to send those costs right through the roof. They're fighting like hell to kick
06:15people off insurance. They're fighting like hell to cut taxes and give sweet giveaways to billionaires and the ultra-rich.
06:23January 1st is coming. Republicans are responsible for what happens next.
06:28This is their crisis now, and they're going to
06:35to be a very close to off.
06:45This is a production for about 500 people on the campus.
06:48Many of the companies aren't in the world, either.
06:52Yeah.
06:53This is the production for about 10 years?
06:54No.
06:56It's the production for about 303 years.
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