Protect Act--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, before I get into the subject of this pending vote, I do want to thank my colleagues from Illinois and Connecticut for bringing this important topic before the Senate.

President Trump's refusal to condemn violent White supremacist groups in the Presidential debate has been around for several days. We have hardly heard anything out of most of our colleagues, and no one--no one, no one--is going to buy the argument that it came too suddenly. White supremacy hasn't come too suddenly. The President's remarks have been out there for several days. It is the flimsiest of excuses to avoid criticizing the President even when every American of decency--the overwhelming majority of all Americans--would know he should be condemned.

They don't care if you are a Democrat or a Republican or are liberal or conservative. You never know how low President Trump can go, but his refusal to condemn White supremacy is among the lowest things he has done, and--boy, oh, boy--there are lots of them lined up. I am ashamed of my Republican colleagues and ashamed--for America, for decency--that they have chosen to block this S. 4653

Madam President, now, on another issue of great importance to America, the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court has thrust the issue of healthcare back into the spotlight. Her confirmation to the highest Court in the land could put healthcare for hundreds of millions of Americans at risk.

As you would imagine, taking away healthcare is deeply unpopular with the American people. So it seems the strategy from the Republican majority is to invent some new distraction--a fresh outrage--to talk about. My colleagues on the other side would rather talk about anything besides the fact that their President, their party, and their Supreme Court nominee pose a dire threat to Americans' healthcare.

The outrage from the Republican leader was directed today, once again, at the idea that the Democrats would attack a nominee's religious beliefs, but of course, in their zeal to manufacture this issue, the Republican Senators began telegraphing this line of attack even before the nominee had been named. One Republican Senator wrote me a letter to warn against anti-Catholic attacks that hadn't happened yet against a nominee who had not been named. That is how transparent this Republican diversion--ruse--is.

It appears the Republican majority will crank up the outrage machine to any level of absurdity to avoid talking about America's healthcare-- the healthcare that so many Americans desperately want and need. In fact, all week, the Republican leader has mocked the idea that a far- right Supreme Court majority might strike down the Affordable Care Act and that Judge Barrett might play a decisive role. Of course, President Trump promised to nominate Supreme Court Justices who would terminate the Affordable Care Act, and he picked Judge Barrett. Those are the President's words. He is only going to pick Justices who would terminate the Affordable Care Act, and it is no mystery why he picked Judge Barrett.

In both major cases brought against the ACA, Judge Barrett twice sided against the law. She publicly criticized Justice Roberts for upholding the law and said that, if the Supreme Court were to read the statute the way she does, they would have to ``invalidate it.'' President Trump: ``terminate it.'' Judge Barrett: ``invalidate it.'' Guess what. President Trump and Republican attorneys general are in court right now, suing to do just that--invalidate our healthcare law in a case that will be heard 1 week after the election.

The threat to Americans' healthcare is very, very real, and Senate Republicans are tying themselves in knots in trying to explain how it is not. Leader McConnell, from the floor of the Senate, called it a joke--a joke--that Judge Barrett and the far-right majority of the Court might vote to take away healthcare or to turn back the clock on women's rights.

Maybe he didn't get that message around to his conference, because the Republican Senator from Utah, only a few days earlier, claimed that the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional and that striking it down shouldn't tarnish Judge Barrett if that is what she chooses to do.

Another Republican Senator said he wanted to see evidence that the nominee understood that Roe was wrongly decided, that Roe was an act of judicial imperialism, and I do believe Amy Coney Barrett's record bears that out. That was his quote.

The junior Senator from Missouri expressed confidence that Judge Barrett believes Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided. On the Supreme Court, a Justice Barrett could enforce that view.

So which is it, Republican leader? Is it absurd to think that Judge Barrett might strike down the Affordable Care Act, or is it a good thing that shouldn't tarnish her reputation?

Is it a joke that Judge Barrett could curtail women's fundamental rights, or are Republican Senators relieved to think that she thinks Roe v. Wade is judicial imperialism?

Americans are starting to get pretty sick of these double standards and mealy-mouthed talking points--pretty sick of politicians who, just 4 years ago, declared they couldn't possibly confirm a Democratic nominee to the Supreme Court in the early months of an election year but are now rushing to confirm a Republican nominee in the middle of an election that is already underway. Most of all, pretty sick are Republicans claiming they support protections for Americans with preexisting conditions while, at the same time, they support a lawsuit that would eliminate them.

Well, we are about to put a few of these Senate Republicans on the record. Soon, the Senate will vote on a bill that, if passed, would protect the healthcare of hundreds of millions of Americans and prevent efforts by the Department of Justice to advocate that courts strike down the Affordable Care Act. I was able to move this measure to the floor despite the fact that Republicans didn't want it, and now we will have a vote.

Will Republican Senators vote to stop President Trump's Justice Department from spending taxpayer dollars trying to eliminate the taxpayers' healthcare? We will see very shortly.

If Senators truly want to support protections for Americans with preexisting conditions, they would vote to damage President Trump's legal effort to eliminate them. It is as simple as that.

No amount of sophistry or explanation is needed. Yes or no?

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Mr. SCHUMER. Thank you, Madam President.

It is as simple as that. Are they with the people who want protection or not, or are they standing with President Trump, who wants to destroy it? It is that simple, because if President Trump and the Republican lawsuit are successful, every single American stands to lose vital healthcare protections or access to care. Millions of Americans would see drug costs skyrocket. Tens of millions of families would lose healthcare coverage during the worst health crisis in a century. More than 130 million Americans with preexisting conditions would lose vital protections, including every American who contracted COVID, which would be treated as a preexisting condition. Women would see their country hurtle backward to a time when they could be charged more than men for insurance simply because they are women.

This vote, which I was fortunate enough to obtain, will show America which party stands with protecting Americans' healthcare and protections for preexisting conditions and which party opposes it.

It is plain and simple. Are you with Leader McConnell, who wants to rip away people's protections? Are you with President Trump, who wants to wound our American healthcare by eliminating ACA? Are you with the American people, who desperately need these protections? Are you with the mother or father whose son or daughter has cancer and the insurance company says ``You are not getting any insurance,'' or are you going to require that company to give them the insurance that family so desperately needs?

The eyes of America are on this body and on Republican Senators right now. Whose side are you on--President Trump's or the American people who want healthcare?

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