During those seven weeks no one has clamored for another try. Or to go one more round letters said the mills are pouring in and with to raise a Facebook Post that they get a chance to drop coverage for Mental Health issues for an addiction treatment. The families i have spoken a with have told me there so believe republicans step back and came to their senses breeding just a little bit easier knowing medicaid will be there for their parents in the nursing home. The it it has eased up a there are not to worry about what agan of their childrens heart surgery back on the floor of the senate with this familiar ritual is to have these repeal bills and water redoing . In those that get the final say in those legislative instructions it with the repeal of the Affordable Care act once it expires september 30th. And to start over with a new set of instructions. And with us single democratic vote. The it is called the cassidy gramm proposal. And this says something new to offer. With those last three terrible repeals you may think that but no. With a fresh coat of paint and a completely eliminates the part of the ec a. Sidygra such as weight for cassidy gramm perot in people with Health Insurance and those you need of their best. And those you cannot save enough. People who use wheelchairs so they can live independently. And with that proposal on those with disabilities and those that need their help. It is not more moderate. Something that families in this country want that part listen shameless billion and with the threats of the American People. And with other mccoll specialties and they sent congress a letter in a bed republicans to not start down the road again. And then that makes a lot more sense. E in so starting with the discussions that have taken place over the last two weeks. With Insurance Companiest cou have to set for next years insurance programs. It to have senator murray on the democratic side. To lower premiums and make sure when you buy Health Insurance to get coverage that actually mean something. A in this is a we held hearings on this issue. Even those not assigned. Ave ed to talk to governors orth the state insurance commissioners. We put a lot of different ideas on the table. How to improve health care this country. But this time there really is a clear tradeoffs. Use these days to let republicans burn down health care. In church for millions of americans. Oss with the repeal of Health Care Coverage but i have news for those republicans. Of the American People see you. For as many rounds. To stop the ugly bill in its tracks. We will not back down. This is the republicans dont seem to realize. When were fighting for kids on ventilators. With those that have Breast Cancer or alzheimers. We never read out of steamli per probe we will fight back or as long as we take fors every single attempt to take the way health care from millions of families and i yield the floor. I rise to join my colleagues with outrage and heartbreak that washington is still working on another partisan spin to take Health Coverage away with t guaranteed protection away from families across this country. And this is despite a clear message from those that were sent to congress this ignores that message and its would make it far worse, not better. This is a worry that they have shared with me. Things telling me they cannot afford for things to get worse they cannot afford a higher cost for health care. T both of them have diabetes. With the skyrocketing cost of insulin. , those of preexisting conditions allowing them to cut coverage in charge more for needed care. Somebody that was branded with those words as a child i cannot imagine how that would hurt children tax throughout america. D for those that help thousands and estimates show this particular plan is offered in the senate could significantly cut funding for my home state in the year 2027 on top of the latest repeal plan to playbo dangerous political games seekig and does so at that expense of affordable insurance. W and the Trump Administration continues to threaten to withhold cost sharing reduction payments with deductibles or out of pocket cost instead of Getting Health Care providers certainty to stabilize theg Health Care Marketplace the chomp administration is laying the groundwork. In addition at just lastdi week the administration slashed funding for their region and education efforts to have more people sign up for health care so with the Navigator Program without explanation by almost 50 percent to exceeding the enrollment goals. Fewer people in rural wisconsin. Of affordable Health Care Coverage. And we should be making things better. In those and expand coverage is with a Health Education it is trying to do just that. Rating members have shown to bring us together the committee has heard from leaders the zero leaders and experts to claim with the health care system. Ughout t and to have a set of four hearings over the last two weeks and to receive a consistent message. E health and those to stabilize that Health Insurance. To to make health care more affordable. And for the of Bipartisan Solutions for that coverage over 6. 1 million in funding for our region and education will further destabilize the market. It is past time to stop the partisan nonsense. And with this partisan attempt to take more from less care. Those across this country a and we dont want to take Peoples Health care way. And then to work across the parties to make things better than pass this partisan debate. By into have more common ground. With a Bipartisan Solutions to stabilize the Health Care Marketplace. To lower the health cost. I yield back. Notice the absence of a quorum. Mr. Merkley mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Merkley mr. President , i ask that the quorum call be lifted. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Merkley thank you, mr. President. Yogi berra once said its like deja vu all over again. Here we are feeling the echoes of the recent debates over health care, yet another republican plan to dismantle health care, the peace of mind of millions of americans coming to the floor. What weve seen in the previous plans, weve seen the house bill that was going to wipe out health care for 24 million people. We saw the bill that the that came over from the senate in june, wipe out health care for 22 million people. Then we saw the republicans improved version for that wiping out health care for 32 million people. Now july of this year yet another plan, back to 22 million. Millions and millions of people losing their health care. And now we have one more lastditch effort to destroy health care for ordinary americans, for rural americans, for working americans. Its just wrong, and im going to explain some of the reasons that all of us should be outraged by this bill, this bill, this new bill. This new bill which says need yachtly immediately the individual mandate and accompanying mandate company mandate are wiped out. What does that do . It means instantly in 2018 and 2019 its a destructive, race to the bottom insurance pools. If theres no pool, no mandate, then only those who are sicker sign up. Those who are sicker are more expensive. So then more people drop out of the Health Care Pool and the pool becomes even more expensive. It just shoots right out of sight. So were not talking just about damage that would be done in 2020. Were talking about damage that would be done next year and the year after. What happens when the Insurance Companies say theres only two years left on this and the Health Care Pool has a big hole in it, Healthy People are gushing out and only the sickest people remain . Theyre going to drop out of providing coverage. So suddenly we have hundreds of counties across the nation with no Health Care Provision for those that are currently in the Health Care Marketplace. Weve been through this conversation. Weve been through the ted cruz fake insurance bill. And it was voted down by this body with a substantial bipartisan majority. This is a repeat of that saying lets destroy those insurance pools. What else does this bill destroy . Well, in 2020 it destroys the tax credits. Lets say you were fortunate enough to have the pool survive 2018 and 2019 and you have tax credits to enable you to buy insurance and theres still a provider during those two years. But then comes 2020 and theres no tax credits with which to buy insurance of the so now you are insurance. So now you are thrown out of health care. No remedy provided in this bill. And is it possible that youre going to get covered by the Medicaid Program in your state . Well, not likely because medicaid in most straits provides most states provides insurance for poorer americans, not for the folks who are getting the tax credits and the exchange. No, they are out of luck. And what else do we have . The elimination of essential benefits. Essential benefits no longer required. We have some history with this here in our country. Weve had those fake insurance policies that you buy that cost virtually nothing and then you get sick and discover that your trip to the emergency room isnt covered. You discover your hospitalization is not covered. Then your child gets injured. They break a bone. You discover the xrays are not covered. And the lab tests are not covered. These are the fake insurance policies that dont belong anywhere because they are simply a fraud. This is the scam. Why are we returning to a vote on fake insurance . We also have this vision of this fake insurance where you have a policy that costs us virtually nothing and then covers nothing. So its sold to the to those who are vulnerable to the sales pitch of the scam man. And what else does this do . Well, right now we have this very complicated health care system. This is a big improvement over what we had eight years ago, but it is still complicated. We have medicaid and we have medicare. We have onexchange, we have offexchange. We have special insurance for the workplace called workers compensation. We have special insurance for children called childrens Health Insurance program. We have workplace policies that are very good benefits covered by the company, and we have workplace policies that are very poor policies. We have workplace policies that are paid for by the company and those that the individual has to buy into the workplace policy. And we have policies that cover just the worker and ones that cover the family. What do you do as you navigate this incredibly complex array . This is continuous, stressful journey for americans. Maybe you have a job that doesnt pay very much and youre able to be on the Oregon Health plan for similar Medicaid Programs across the country and then you earn a little bit more, or your spouse earns a little bit more. Suddenly you dont qualify. How do you get on to the exchange in the middle of the year . How do you work out that tax credits for the end of the year . Or maybe your next job provides some insurance for you but not your children. How do you get your children signed up . Very, very stressful situation, this complicated, overlapping health care that requires continuous attention just for people to make sure that if their loved one is sick, if their child is injured, that they will get the care they need when that happens, that the family wont end up bankrupt. This is a pursuit of peace of mind. What does this bill do . It makes our already complicated system even more indicated even more complicated. It says in this bill, we want to have 50 different systems for 50 different states. So much for focusing on a simpler system, where we can work to drive out any fraud or inefficiencies or abuse. No, now we have 50 systems pursuing different forms of fraud and waste and abuse. Now, we should be going in the other direction towards simplicity, towards a world in which just by virtue of being an american you know youre covered. You dont have to worry about that transition from job to job, or that change as you go from one income to another income, or the dynamics that occur should you get married or get divorced. No, just by virtue of being an american, youre covered. Thats the way the whole developed world does it. They make it easy except here; we make it complicated. And this bill is determined to make it much more complicated. Much more fractured, much more stressful. So lets not do that. Lets apply a Little Common sense and recognize none of us would run a business determined to make the workplace more stressful, more fractured, less efficient, more filled with fraud. But that is what this bill does. So lets say no. Lets have a huge, bipartisan response to say, absolutely not. Now, its grassroots america that defeated those previous diabolical plans to wipe out health care for millions of americans. They filled the streets. Grassroot america overflowed our inboxes, they flooded our phones and once again we need the common sense of working america, of grassroots america to weigh in and say how wrong this proposed bill is. During the debate previously i kept noting that this was like a monster that you can only put away by driving a stake through its heart. And each time we attempted to have that debate on the floor and defeated the bill, i thought, well, perhaps weve finally put this monster six feet under. But now its back in all its ruthless toothandfanning fury ready to destroy peace of mind and health care for our citizens. So lets take a vote in this senate that will do what we had hoped wed done before and truly drive a stake through the heart of this trumpcare proposition. Lets stand up in partnership with our citizens. Oh, i know this room is full of really wealthy americans who have never worried about health care. When i was first campaigning for the u. S. Senate, i met with one of those really wealthy americans in new york city who said to me, i dont know why youre saying youre fighting for Better Health care. Everybody in america has Good Health Care. Thats because that individual lived in a bubble where he was surrounded by everyone he knew having Good Health Care because they worked for really wealthy firms in new york city. They are so dramatically disconnected from the reality of working americans. Ill tell you whats going on in my neighborhood, my bluecollar neighborhood, the same neighborhood my children went to. It is getting tougher. It is getting tougher to find a fulltime job. It is getting tougher to find a livingwage job. It is getting tougher to be able to save and help your child pursue their dreams. It is tougher to be able to help your family perhaps go on a vacation, even a simple vacation. And its certainly tougher to buy a home. In fact, many people in my neighborhood feel the only way theyre going to be able to buy a home is to inherit it from their parents. But ill it will you, theres one thing but ill tell you, theres one thing that got easier in the last eight years against that. One thing. And that was that we provided expansion of medicaid to cover a lot more people, and we created a marketplace for insurance where working people could use tax credits to be able to buy care, to easily compare policies. We made it a big step forward in one single area, one area, and now my colleagues from their gated communities and their sevendigit wealth want to come and destroy the one thing that we did for working americans. If President Trump cared one wit about a working american, hed be ringing up the majority leader of this chamber right now and saying, what are you doing . I campaigned saying i was going to stand with workers. This bill attacks them. What are you doing . Hed be calling up and saying, i called that house bill mean. That house bill, which eliminated health care for 23 million americans, the final bill you i called it mean and heartless. This is meaner. This is even more heartless. But we shouldnt need the insights of President Trump to be able to understand the damage that this does to ordinary americans. You can see it plain as day right there on the page on the pages of this bill. So, colleagues, read the bill. Talk to your Health Care Experts and drive a stake through this health care monster. Thank you, mr. President. Note f a quorum. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Booker thank you very much. Thank you very much. Ive watched this as this body has reebtly really begun to work in a bipartisan fashion trying to stabilize the Insurance Market under the leader of senator alexander, the chairman of the health committee. Theres been efforts going on. Theres been a number of hearings held ont