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Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise today because Republicans are making America safer and more prosperous, and, as part of that, we are strengthening Medicaid.

You know, I am a doctor. I practiced medicine in Wyoming for over 20 years, and I cared for many, many Medicaid patients my entire career. I understand Medicaid's importance--importance for the people that it is intended to serve. I have also seen its shortcomings.

Medicaid became a law in 1965. It was meant to be a safety net for the poor, for pregnant women, for children, and for the disabled.

Today, Medicaid has been stretched way beyond its intended purposes. Today, Medicaid covers 71 million people. Many of these are able- bodied, working-age individuals. As a result, Medicaid has become broken and bloated. Its costs are ballooning. It is going to go bankrupt unless we take action now to strengthen it.

The Republican plan will strengthen Medicaid for those for whom it was originally intended.

Our bill ensures that illegal immigrants do not receive taxpayer- funded healthcare. It was never intended for that. But 14 liberal States currently give free taxpayer funded healthcare to illegal immigrants.

California, of course, is the biggest offender because they set up a money-laundering scheme. The scheme is set up to siphon money from the Federal Treasury to provide free healthcare for illegal immigrants. The 1.4 million illegal immigrants who receive free healthcare, they strangle Medicaid in the funding. They are filling up waiting rooms and clinics. They are making it harder for Americans to get in to see a doctor.

Our bill ends liberal States' magnet for illegal immigrants. Medicaid cannot continue to be a reward for open borders and sanctuary cities.

Additionally, our bill roots out waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption in Medicaid. Experts tell us that, in recent years, Medicaid has wasted over $1 trillion in improper payments alone.

In 2021, 660,000 people were enrolled in Medicaid in more than one State. How can that be? That is costing lots of money. The Wall Street Journal did a breakdown of this. They found that these double payments alone cost American taxpayers over $2 billion.

Republicans will not allow scammers to continue to game the system and steal money from taxpayers.

Additionally, our bill puts in place work requirements for these able-bodied, working-age adults. Twenty-one million able-bodied adults are currently on Medicaid.

An American Enterprise Institute study recently found able-bodied adults on Medicaid who don't work. How do they spend their time? Well, they spend over 4 hours every day watching TV and playing video games. That is 125 hours a month. They ought to be working or at least looking for a job.

Our bill requires these people to work or train 80 hours each month to remain on Medicaid. That is a lot less than the time they are currently spending watching TV and playing video games.

Senate Republicans are proposing a responsible path to self-reliance for able-bodied, working-age people--no more taxpayer-funded coddling.

Let me share with you a story about a man whose son relies on Medicaid. This man's son has autism and epilepsy. Medicaid was designed to serve individuals like this man's son. Yet, today, his son is stuck on a 10-year waiting list for in-home care.

The man wrote about his family's needs. He wrote a whole article about it, entitled ``My Son Is Counting on Medicaid Work Requirements''--not for the son but for others, so they start working to make it easier for this man's son to get the benefits that he needs.

Medicaid is often called a lifeline. Years of waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption have pushed those who truly need it to the back of the line.

Republicans are fighting for families like this one. We are making sure Medicaid is there for the vulnerable.

Meanwhile, Democrats are fine with healthy, working-age adults continuing to stay home, play video games, and receive Medicaid forever.

Work requirements work. In the 1990s, Bill Clinton proposed that we end welfare as we know it. President Clinton partnered in a bipartisan way with the Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, to pass bipartisan reform.

Bipartisan welfare reform lifted millions out of poverty. Even President Obama admitted it. He said:

We have to have work as the centerpiece of any social policy.

President Obama was right then, and Republicans are right today.

Today, every Democrat has vowed to oppose our commonsense reforms. Democrats' wasteful approach continues to drain Medicaid.

Medicaid is for the truly needy. Medicaid is not for illegal immigrants or for able-bodied, working-age men who refuse to work.

Republicans are rescuing this lifeline so that it serves those who need it the most now and into the future.

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