Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Health and Human Services Relating to ``State Relief and Empowerment Waivers''

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, this afternoon, I join with a number of my colleagues to put Republicans on notice that their healthcare charade is coming to an end.

Tomorrow, the Senate will go on the record and make clear, once and for all, whether they stand with patients and families who are counting on them or with President Trump and big insurance companies.

Tomorrow, Democrats will force the Senate to vote on our bill to reverse President Trump's rule that undermines protections for people with preexisting conditions and promotes junk health plans and higher costs for families.

For too long, Republicans have been making empty promises on healthcare, while taking harmful steps that make things worse for patients and families.

Time after time, Democrats have asked Republicans to work with us to actually make healthcare work better for patients and families, but, time after time, Senate Republicans have said no. In fact, there has been no greater cheerleader for President Trump's relentless attacks on families' healthcare and no greater obstacle to passing solutions to repair the damage than Senate Republicans.

This isn't just a hypothetical conversation. Any day now--any day now--we could get a ruling on the partisan lawsuit brought by President Trump that would undermine healthcare for over 100 million people by ending protections for people with preexisting conditions, stripping away coverage families got through the exchanges and Medicaid expansion and letting young adults get kicked off of their parents' insurance before they turn 26.

A Republican win on this could absolutely drive up costs by scrapping the caps on patients' out-of-pocket costs, while bringing back lifetime and annual caps on their benefits--even for those insured through their employer--and ending essential health benefits that require insurers to cover prescription drugs, maternity care, mental healthcare, emergency care, and more.

When Senate Democrats took a stand against this dangerous lawsuit and introduced this legislation to fight for patients and protect their care, Senate Republicans ducked for cover and did not bring it to a vote, just like they have done with Senate Democrats' efforts to bring down drug prices through impactful steps like Medicare negotiation, or to restore funding to help people find the care that is right for them when open enrollment starts this week, or make coverage more affordable for working families.

Democrats in the House have already made progress on some of these steps, from successfully joining the lawsuit to fight for patients to passing legislation that would restore navigator funding, reverse President Trump's harmful junk insurance rule, and more.

Republicans in the Senate have blatantly failed to live up to their promise to fight for families' healthcare instead of working with us on these steps to help our families and protect patients with preexisting conditions--to do what families sent us here for. They have buried each of these solutions in their legislative graveyard so that they don't even have to admit on the record that they aren't doing anything to help protect families' care--well, not tomorrow. Tomorrow, Democrats are going to bring forward a bill to ensure protections for preexisting conditions that Leader McConnell cannot bury and Republicans can't hide from.

Tomorrow, every single one of us is going to have to go on the record about where we really stand on families' healthcare and protections for preexisting conditions. Tomorrow, we will be voting on Democrats' legislation to reverse a step President Trump took to work a tool that was meant to encourage innovation into one that encourages States to eliminate protections for patients with preexisting conditions, increases costs, undermines essential health benefits, and promotes harmful junk insurance plans that can charge vulnerable patients more and cover less.

Letting President Trump's rule stand could leave millions of patients with higher premiums, higher out-of-pocket costs, and no affordable options to get the healthcare they need.

Our vote tomorrow to reverse this rule that takes protections away from patients and gives power back to insurance companies offers a very clear test about who Senators are actually fighting for. People across the country are going to be watching tomorrow and taking note of who is pushing for solutions to protect their care and who is blocking them, who is trying to repair the damage President Trump has caused and who is trying to cause even more harm, who is fighting for their healthcare and who is fighting against it.

I hope each and every one of my Republican colleagues think long and hard about the promises they have made to their constituents and how they are going to look them in the eye after the vote tomorrow. I hope each of them finally decides to do the right thing and stand up for families' healthcare, even if it means being a Republican who stands up against President Trump.

I believe issues as important as families' healthcare should come before party, and I hope we will see tomorrow that Republicans agree.

Thank you.

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