Our responsibility as elected representatives is at the very least to listen. And ive been listening over thb last week, but really over the last year, the constituents of mine in the state of connecticut, over the week, to Emergency Fuel tank that i conducted because no hearing were held by United States s senate. And no markups and no votes in committee. What we saw here was complete secrecy, a deal produced behint closed doors, and seeing the light of the day for the first time last thursday. Our republican colleagues have gone from total secrecy that total chaos. The reason for the chaos is the fact, most dramatically revealed today just hours ago when the Congressional Budget Office told us, not surprisingly, that 22 million americans would be thrown to the wolves as a result of this measure, thrown to the wolves of no Health Care Coverage. And 49 million americans eventually would be without Health Care Coverage by 2026. Next year alone, 15 million more people will be uninsured under the republican plan, trumpcare two. Low income americans would be able to afford, would be unable to afford any plan at all. And anybody who does would be paying higher costs for fewer services of lesser quality. Americans will pay a higher share of their income and received less as a result. A 64yearold making almost 57,000 will go from paying x thousand 800 under the Affordable Care act, the 20,500 under the proposal before this p body. This jump in causes absentlyci staggering and it will destroy the Financial Wellbeing of middleclass america. Who also, when they need nursing home care, after they have exhausted their savings, will be thrown to the walls. And i visited one such facility just last friday, where twothirds of its 60 beds will be unaffordable when those middleclass families find their savings no longer covered. These facts are the reason for the republican chaos. One of our former colleagues, my mentor, senator Daniel Patrick moynihan, famously said everybody is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. And the Administration Statement that the cbo is not to be blindly trusted, nobody has to trust the cbo blindly. Those facts are driven by reality. Their report speaks truth to power and to the American People. Pl and the American People get it. None of us can look ourr constituents in the eye, looks ourselves in the mirror, look inside ourselves and our heartsy and justify a vote for this bill. The American People are angry, many of them, because we are even considering it. And its not an anger that is kind of a shrug of the shoulders. Its a deep vocal vehement vitriolic anger, and ive seen it and heard it at those hearings where ive listened to people coming forward and talking about this bill, this recognizing it for what it is. Not a health care bill, a massive tax cut for the wealthy. Just friday afternoon, one of the folks who attended the hearing said dont call it a health care bill. Its a wealth care bill or cant in fact, she is absolutely right. This bill cuts millions, hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes for the richest so that they will do better. But it also cuts 800 billion in medicaid spending and investment to provide for that kind of tax cut. It is not a health care bill. It is a wealth care bill. And for most americans, it is ad catastrophic, cruel and costly insult to their intelligence, their health, and our american values. It is a sham and a charade. Making possible those cuts for the rich, tax cuts for them, at the expense of our most vulnerable citizens. And it has been the result of a profoundly undemocratic process. Secrecy and speed. Colle despite the best efforts of our republican colleagues to keepar americans in the dark about what this proposal would do, i had seen growing awareness. Again, not only at these hearings but as i walked to the airport, as i march in parades twice over this weekend, as i attend public gatherings, whether it is boy state sponsored by the American Legion for 16 and 17yearolds, or nursing facilities for elderly citizens, a growing awareness that this bill is bad, profoundly bad for the American People. The people i have heard from have prescriptions to fill, appointments to make him lives to live. But they have come to these hearings on very short notice, in hartford and new haven literally filling rooms so that there was standing room only. And i challenge my colleagues to hold the same kind of hearings to delay this vote so they can go home at the end of this week and hold hearings in their t state, listen to their the constituents about what they have to say and what the consequences will be. Nearly one in ten veterans have medicaid coverage, meaning that a staggering 1. 75 million veterans, including 18,000 cuts be impacted by these reckless cuts. Let me repeat that number for all of us who rejoice in the recent accountability and whistleblowers act. And 1 1. 75 million veterans, and 18,000 of them in connecticut, would be harmed by this reckless and needless insult and injury. For simply come this bill would make it harder for veterans with Mental Health disorders, like posttraumatic stress, to get care. Nearly a quarter of all veterans receive care for the Mental Health disorders outside the va system, meaning they rely onua protections that guarantee their access to Affordable Care. Under this proposal those protections would be severelyned threatened, and the veterans who need that care would see that care at risk. Here we are talking about a Choice Program that enables veterans to seek care outside the va system privately, and we are endangering care for millions of americans, veterans who need and seek it by using medicaid. If my colleagues listen to their constituents, they would hear from many of the people who have come to my town halls, like christine, christina has two beautiful fouryearold twins n named mckenzie and camera. Gene genetic disorder that her mom described as quote, including low muscle tone, seizures, temperature instability, sleep apnea, infertility, ocd, intellectual disability and developmental delay. End quote. In the first few weeks of her life, mckenzie was in the hospital for 57 days, accountinn for 2 billion in costs. The fan was spending 30,000 a year to help their daughter thrive. Hat so when christine learned that her daughter had received a waiver to become a medicaid beneficiary, she was overjoyed. Christine told me quote, when we received her diagnosis, we were told that she wouldnt do a lot of things, and that only four years old she is already defying the odds. M i have no doubt in my mind that if wer were able to continue dn our current path of the proper therapies and doctors, mckenzie will be able to have her fruitful life. I am terrified if the rug comes out beneath her, that she will become just another statistic. Another statistic. There are enough statistics in that cbo report. We will hear a plethora of statistics on the floor, but the picture is worth a thousand words, and many more than a thousand statistics. And no one, no one should be confined to be a statistic. This family is one of the many faces and pictures and stories t of medicaid. O they deserve to be heard. If we strip away the Important Services it provides, we know all too well what will happen to mckenzie and her family as statistics. Like her mother said, medicaidor has been the path for them to success. And that rug will be polled from that family, beneath mckenzie. At the hearing on friday in new haven i heard from ken obrien, who told me about the eight Prescription Medications he takes, four for psychiatricns reasons and four for medical ones. M now, of course Mental Health parity has been one of the crusades of my life. When i was state attorney general i worked with senator ted kennedy and congressman help Patrick Kennedy to help advocate for the bill as a sender. Th i advocated the regulations that were necessary for its enforcement and we finally got it done. I want to quote what he said directly. He told me quote, and if i lose my medicare and medicaid, i will be unable to pay for them, obviously which in turn i will end up in the hospital, end quote. He went on, let me quote him, now for the republicans who are seeing in this washington, can you please listen to me carefully . I am speaking to an empty chamber, but nobody making a mistake that republicans are hanging on his words as i speak now. But every one of them should go to the record. Every one of them should be listening in their offices. Every one of them should go to e the record, and i will place his testimony in the record, along with all of the testimony that we heard last friday, as i did the testimony from mondays Emergency Health care hearing. If there is no objection. Without objection. Thank you, mr. President. L so please listen to me carefully. The if i lose that medication, i will end up in the hospital and is going to cost the state and the federal government much more money than it would be to simply let me go to the pharmacy and pick up my medication. E if there were ever a message that washington should hear, it is from canada obrien, can obrien, who closed by simply saying quote, dont hurt the American People, end quote. Now, if you met him, you would f wonder how he was capable of that eloquent. Hes an ordinary american, someone who looks like all the rest of us, like he has said to this body what it needs to hear. Dont hurt the American People. And he couldnt be more right. This proposal will cost our nation so much, not just financially, ken had it right, but morally. It will lead to a weakening of what makes our country strong and great in the first place. Ao to care about our neighbor to fight what is right and to listen to the people we represent here in the United States senate. First, do no harm. Thats what the esop of the medical profession is, and it ought to be our mantra as well, and it ought to be what my colleagues, if nothing else, hed come as we reach this decision, to listen to people who sent you here, and hear their stories. Listen to the anxieties and fears and values of america. They will tell you all you need to know about this bill. Ken told me, as he said, the cost will be staggering. Terms not just in financial terms, but human terms. This bill, written behind closed doors, away from the light of day, away from the realities of medical care and the United States, away from the voices and faces that i have brought to the floor today, and i will continue to bring him to the floor, ignore the most important thing we can do this week. As ken said, dont hurt the American People. As the doctors tell us, first do no harm. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. Offic mr. President . The senator from maryland. Thank you, mr. President. I want to start by thanking my colleague from the state of connecticut for bringing those powerful testimonies to the floor of the United States senate, and its really important that all of us, all 100 of us spend time back home in other states listening to people who are telling us those kinds of stories. I have gotten over 2500 phone calls in my office just since thursday. All of them strongly opposed to this health care proposal,he socalled health care proposal. You know, mr. President , some things improve with time. Some things improve with age, like red wine. Some things get stinky here in e smelly air the longer they set out there. Er like rotten things, and that is the case with this series of republican socalled Health Care Bills trumpcare one, trumpcare 2. 0, now trumpcare 3. 0. R they are all rotten to the core, and the more they set out there, the stinky here they get any American People know it. If you had any doubts, take a look at the most recent Congressional Budget Office report that weve got today. And theres a pretty clear pattern between all these Congressional Budget Office reports. On the first to resolve, on the second bill and now on this latest version. And heres the pattern, mr. President , tens of millions of americans will lose access to Affordable Health care in thee United States of america, in order to provide tax breaks for powerful special interests and richer americans. Thats the pattern. In this most recent report, we are told by the nonpartisan professionals of thess Congressional Budget Office that 22 million of our fellow americans are going to lose access to Affordable Health care. And for what . To give powerful special interests a tax break and wealthy americans. You know, Insurance Companies can actually, currently not, are not allowed to deduct the bonuses they pay for their ceos. Now youre going to about Insurance Companies to deduct the bonuses they pay to their ceos. And while tens of millions of americans would lose access to Affordable Care millionaires will get an average annual tax break of 50,000 a year every year. So make no mistake, you can call this a health care bill, but it has nothing to do with health care and everything to do withlt wealth care and transferring wealth for more struggling vulnerable americans to the very wealthy. Tragic if this was about health care, if this was about health care why is it weve all gotten it in our offices long lists from Patient Advocacy organizations that are dead set against this legislation . These are organizations that of a dedicated to try to improve health care for people and patients in our country. The american cancer society, the American Diabetes association, the american heart association, the American Lung association, National Alliance on mental illness. National Breast Cancer coalition, national multiple l sclerosis society. And the list goes on and on from organizations that have dedicated themselves to p advancing patient health. And on the other side, i havent seen a single, not one, Patients Advocacy Group thats come out to support this socalled health care bill. How can that be . If this is good for the health of our fellow citizens, why is it we have a long list of organizations that are dedicated to the cause against it and notc one for it . How about Health Care Providers . The folks who will provide the care to our constituents. They are all dead set against it. The nurses, the doctors, the hospitals, the people who have that network of care. I was just out on the Eastern Shore of maryland, real part of our state, the rural hospital bl associations are opposed to this bill. They know that the people they serve are going to be badly hurt and by the way, its also going to hurt the economys in those parts of our state, especially the real part of the states because those hospitals depend heavily on many other people who expa act, whether through the exchanges or through expanded medicaid. And as those patients come in the door and no longer can pay for their care, those hospitals said they may have to close down operations, lay people off, a double whammy. Bad for patients and bad for those who provide the care to our patients. Thats why aarp has been all out against this because they know that for americans between the ages of 5064, before you get a medicare, this is a total disaster as they said there is an age tax. If your older you will pay a whole lot more under this republican bill than you pay today. And many people are just realizing now as they follow this debate that two out of three americans who are in Nursing Homes today are supported i medicaid payments. So millions of our fellow americans who now get their care in Nursing Homes where medicaid is providing support for two out of three are going to be put at risk and made vulnerable because of this legislation. Remember, donald trump said he wasnt going to cut medicaid. 0 this catch it by over 750 billion. And make no mistake, on this issue, this senate bill is a lol meaner than the house bill. We all know that President Trump out in the rose garden, december the passage of house bill, and behind closed doors, what did he call it . Mean. This senate bill, as time goes on, will cut medicaid for more deeply than the house bill. As you look at thise Congressional Budget Office report, it talks about how you get to the end of your eight, nine, ten and go beyond that. Youre going to have very deep cuts. Much more painful, much meaner than in the senate bill. Isting and mr. President , weve heard a lot about preexisting conditions. The reality is the senate bill is very devious in this regard. Its a great sleigh sleightof. On one hand it creates the impression that if you have preexisting conditions you will be all right. But what it pretends to give with one hand, it takes away with the other. And makes those americansable cr vulnerable as they were before the passage of the Affordable Care act prick that are not talking about those who are directly bene