Healthcare

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, finally, during the debate last night, when it came to healthcare, half of the Democratic Presidential field engaged in a healthy debate, a great deal of which was focused on the No. 1 issue to American voters--healthcare.

Despite different policy proposals, the debate shows that the Democratic Party is completely united on the idea of universal healthcare coverage as well as on the need to lower the costs and improve the quality of healthcare for every American. Yet one point that should have been made during the debate but unfortunately wasn't should have been the fact that the Republicans are actively sabotaging our current healthcare system.

Whether you are one of the more moderate Members on healthcare or are one of the ones who have a more broad, more sweeping proposal, it is the difference between the parties. Yet those differences almost pale compared to the differences between every Democrat on that platform and the Republicans, because the Republicans are seeking to undo healthcare, to sabotage healthcare, and to have fewer people covered. As a result of their ideas, thoughts, and lawsuits, costs are going up.

There is a huge gap between the parties on healthcare, and I am glad we are having an active debate on how to move forward to cover more people and have it cost less. While we are doing that, the Trump administration is doing the opposite. It is expanding junk insurance plans, reducing funds to help Americans locate and sign up for the right insurance, and ending cost-sharing payments that help low-income families afford care.

The congressional Republicans have tried and have, thankfully, failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The coup de grace, of course, is the fact that now the Trump administration--with the support of many Republican attorneys general and the complicity of just about every Member of the Senate on the Republican side--is supporting a lawsuit that would invalidate the Affordable Care Act entirely, which would kick tens of millions off of their insurance and eliminate the protections for preexisting conditions for the over 100 million Americans who have those preexisting conditions, and just about every Republican is going along with that.

The difference in the 2020 elections between the Democrats and the Republicans on healthcare will be apparent and glaring, and it will far and away subsume any differences we may have on policy.

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