Healthcare

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, today, I am announcing that Senate Democrats will introduce legislation for a clean, 3-year extension of the current ACA tax credits. This is the bill--a clean, 3-year extension of ACA tax credits--that Democrats will bring to the floor of the Senate for a vote next Thursday, and every single Democrat will support it.

Republicans have 1 week to decide where they stand: Vote for this bill and bring healthcare costs down, or block this bill and send premiums skyrocketing.

That is what is at stake when we vote next week. It is going to be one of the most important votes we take because it is showing who is on the side of the American people and lowering their healthcare costs and who is on the side of the big special interests and is going to allow them to raise healthcare costs for America. People back home will be watching what Republicans do, and the American people are running out of time before January 1.

Make no mistake, our bill is the last chance Republicans will get before January 1 to prevent premiums from skyrocketing. Republicans have no hope of solving this healthcare crisis on their own. They have no healthcare plan of their own whatsoever. They are far too divided. Americans can't help but notice that when Leader Thune came to the podium a few minutes ago, he didn't even talk about healthcare because he has nothing to say. They can't even come up with their own bill.

The only path next week is supporting our bill. While Democrats are united in fighting for the American people, Republicans are too busy fighting amongst themselves. They can't even come up with their own plan. Republicans have spent more time kicking low-income people off health insurance and raising costs for those who stay covered than on doing anything to lower premiums. They have riddled their plan with poison pills that would ban abortion nationwide.

For those Republicans talking about sending checks, how is a one-time check supposed to last the whole year? People are paying more every day for the things they need, and a single check in the mail is cold comfort if you are paying $1,000 or $5,000 more a month just for health insurance.

So the reality is this. The reality is simply this: The easiest, most direct way, the simplest way to solve this premium crisis is for Republicans to vote for our bill. Any Republican who claims to care about premium increases on January 1 has only one realistic path, and that is to support our bill for a simple, clean, 3-year extension.

If Republicans block our bill, there is no going back. We won't get another chance to halt these premium spikes before they kick in at the start of the new year. Those insurance premiums in January will land like a hammer blow on the American people. The pain will fall on all Americans but heaviest in the Republicans' own backyards. They don't even care about their own constituents.

As election results have shown in November, this past week, and in many other instances, the American people are beginning to learn Republicans don't care that costs are going through the roof for the average American family.

Americans with chronic illnesses will suffer if we don't extend the credits. Rural communities will be devastated. People who get insurance through their jobs will see their costs go up too. This isn't just affecting ACA people.

We can avoid all of this needless pain if just a handful of Republicans join us in passing our bill--join us in passing our bill. Or are they going to continue the Republican war on healthcare, on reducing healthcare costs, and block getting better healthcare for the American people.

For the last 30 years, Republicans have been fighting, but now this fight is coming to a head because the failure to extend these premiums will hit so hard--harder than anything that has hit the American people in the last while.

Democrats have made clear where we stand. Now that our proposal is out, Republicans have 1 week to pick a side: Join us and prevent premiums from skyrocketing, or block our bill and condemn people, the American people, to financial disaster. The choice is up to the Republicans here in the Senate.

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