Mr. Hatch mr. President. The presiding officer the president pro tempore. Mr. Hatch mr. President , the final pieces of obamacare care were signed into law a little over seven years ago. Since that time republicans not just in congress, but throughout the country have been united in their opposition to the law and our commitment to repeal it. This hasnt been simply a political or partisan endeavor. Were not just trying to take a notch out of president obamas win column. The simple truth is that obamacare is not working. The law was poorly written and the system it created was poorly designed. Even a number of obamacare supporters have come to acknowledge that it hasnt been working the way it was promised to work. As a result, millions of americans have suffered astronomical increases in their Health Insurance premiums, and fewer and fewer Insurance Options to choose from. That is obamacares great irony. The law requires people to buy Health Insurance while also making it impossible to do so. For . Efn and a half years for seven and a half years republicans fought to expose the failures of obamacare and have pledged time and time again to repeal it. Every single republican member of the senate has expressed support for repealing obamacare. Most of us have made promises to our constituents to do just that, and those promises coupled with the obvious failures of obamacare are a big reason why we now why we now find ourselves in control of both chambers of congress and the presidency. For the last six months republicans have worked in good faith to find a path forward to both repeal and replace obamacare. The released discussion drafts attempted to bridge the divide between our more conservative and moderate members, so the products were never going to be perfect. Such as the inherent nature of compromise. The draft released last week included editions to address member priorities that was likely the best chance we had at a compromise bill to repeal and replace obamacare with significant entitlement reform. But last night a handful of members said they would not support the compromise bill even though it would reform medicaid by putting it on a sustainable path for future generations and guarded the largest prolife protections and included the largest prolife protections on federal spending that ive ever seen. This, mr. President , was the opportunity we had been working toward. All we had to do was come together and compromise and seven and a half years of promises would have been much, much closer to being fulfilled. But last night we blinked. And, frankly, i think the members who opted to scuttle the compromise bill will eventually have to explain to their constituents why they left so many obamacare fixes on the table and walked away from this historic opportunity. So where does that leave us . The majority leader has announced his intention to shelve the effort to repeal and replace c obamacare with a single piece of legislation. Long story short, we have one more chance to do what weve all said we wanted to do. Im aware that some members have already expressed their skepticism, if not their opposition, to this approach. I would hope that they will take the time to reconsider. As senators contemplate this path, they should keep in mind that the upcoming voters upcoming vote is not about the next two years, nor is it about the past six months. Were not going to be voting to approve a specific process for drafting and enacting an obamacare replacement. And were not voting to approve the way this effort has moved forward during this congress. I know some of our colleagues have doubts about the path forward. Others have complaints about the path that got us here. But this vote, in my view, will simply be about whether we intend to live up to our promises. Do we want to repeal obamacare or are we fine with leaving it in place . Thats the question we have to ask ourselves. Keep in mind, mr. President , the vast majority of republican senators are already on record having voted two years ago in favor of a full Obamacare Repeal with a twoyear delay. Of course in 2015, we know we knew that the president would veto that legislation. We now know that the current occupant of the white house would surely sign it. Thats really the only difference between then and now. Was the vote in 2015 just a political stunt . Was it just pure partisanship . I know some of our democratic colleagues claim that that was the case. Were they right . I sure hope not. On the contrary, i sincerely hope that any member of the senate who voted for the 2015 bill and who spent the last seven and a half years pledging to repeal obamacare hasnt suddenly decided to change his or her position now that the vote has a chance to actually matter. If we vote to pass a full repeal, will we be solving all of our Health Care Problems with a single vote . Certainly not. But that was never going to be the case, mr. President. Anyone who thought repealing and replacing obamacare would be easy once we had the votes was likely not paying attention to the problems plaguing our Health Care System. However, if we act now to pass the full appeal, we will be full repeal, we will be taking significant steps towarding accomplishing our goal and keeping our promises. If we pass up yet another opportunity, if we cant muster the votes to pass something weve already passed, i have a hard time believing well get another shot to fulfill our promise and repeal this unworkable law any time soon. What does that mean . Among other things, it means a congressional bailout of failing Insurance Markets probably before the end of 2017. Frankly, that ship may have sailed on that one after last nights developments. Were probably looking at an insurance bailout one way or another. Those who will be interested in moving an insurance bailout later this year should be ready to explain how they want to pay for it. Failure would also mean premiums continue to skyrocket, and people will be left with few, if any, available Insurance Options even though they will still face penalties if they dont make a purchase. It would mean that the obamacare taxes and mandates remain in place, and it would keep Medicaid Expansion on the books indefinitely, most certainly creating a scenario for governors to advocate for the federal government to continue paying close to 100 of the share for ablebodied adults. Mr. President , we already know what happens if we leave obamacare in place. That scenario is playing out before our very eyes. That downward spiral of broken promises, one the American People have to deal with every day, is the reason we have all committed to repealing obamacare. Now, dont get me wrong, mr. President. I wish the path that got us to this point had been easier. With less melodrama and acrimony. To be honest, i wish we had simply moved to this full repeal strategy at the outset, because as i noted several times early in this year, it is probably the most feasible path forward if we want to achieve our goals. It would be nice if things had gone differently, but this is where we are with only 52 republicans in the senate and a minority that has from the beginning wanted no part of this process. Right now, we have essentially two choices we can keep talking about repealing obamacare and wishing for a better future, one with more republican votes or more democrats willing to acknowledge reality, or we can press forward with the numbers we have and make good on the commitment that we made to the American People. To quote the old scottish nursery rhyme, if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride. Translation were talking more talking and more wishing wont get us anywhere. We can either take a significant step forward to undo obamacares mandates and taxes that have collectively weakened or wreaked havoc on our Health Care System, or we can dither about them more and leave them in place for the foreseeable future. In my view, mr. President , the choice is an easy one. I urge all of my colleagues to once again vote with me to repeal obamacare. We have blown a number of opportunities already in recent weeks. Last night, we blew a big one. I hope we can avoid doing the same with this upcoming vote. If not, well have to answer to the American People and explain to them why we failed and why we failed. Mr. President , with that, i i suggest the absence of a quorum. A senator i would ask you to withdraw that, please. The presiding officer the senator from delaware. Mr. Carper mr. President , i see you and our friend from utah. I feel compelled just to go back in time, if i could, a question a lot of people say to me back home and around the country, where did obamacare come from . Well, the part where most people think of obamacare, they think of the exchanges that have been established in all 50 states where people who dont have Health Care Coverage can get coverage as part of a large group plan. That was an idea that came from romneycare. 2006, massachusetts, mayor romney was governor, running for president. They came up with a smart idea, said governor romney, you have a much better chance of being elected president if you do what no other governor has ever done and that is to cover everybody in your state for health care. You say well, thats an interesting idea. They looked around for ideas, and what did they come up with . They came up with an idea that was actually raised, suggested by the Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation found its way to this body in 1993 in legislation introduced by republican senator john chafee from rhode island that called for doing five things. Number one, creating exchanges, marketplaces in every state where people who didnt have coverage could be part of a large group, and buy their coverage, get their coverage. Number two, the folks who bought their coverage on the exchange might be eligible for a sliding scale tax credit, lowincome people would get a better tax credit, reducing their premiums than people whose income was higher. Number three, the idea of an individual mandate, if people had to get their coverage, they would have to pay a fine. You cant force people to get coverage. Massachusetts, they say at least well find them. Maybe over time the fine will go up, and most people, including young, Healthy People would elect to get coverage and be part of a group to insure thats actually insurable, as opposed to people who are just sick or anxious to get an operation, needing to get an operation. The fourth principle was in the idea that underlaid the changing legislation, later to become romneycare was the idea that employers of a certain magnitude, certain number of employees had to cover their employees. And the fifth principle in that original idea brought to us from the Heritage Foundation, 23 republican senators and 93 in 1993 as an alternative by the way to hillarycare, later became romneycare. The fifth principle was the idea that if youre an Insurance Company and you were to deny coverage to people because they have a preexisting condition, you cant do that, cannot do that. But that was it. And when a number of us in this body worked on the Affordable Care act, we took the Heritage Foundation idea, the idea from those 23 republican senators who introduced it, cosponsored it, including senator hatch, including senator grassley. Some of the folks who are complaining the most about obamacare with the exchanges are the people who supported the original legislation introducing the idea. I dont know if that seems ironic to other people. It certainly does to me. I spent part of saturday invited up to providence, rhode island, to do something i used to do for eight years, meet with the National Governors association. For eight years as governor of delaware, i was privileged to be part of the National Governors association. At one time vice chair and later on the chairman of the they invited me to come back and talk about health care, Health Care Reform is what was going on here in this senate. I was happy to do that, and we made it work on my schedule. There to speak on behalf of the administration was the Vice President of the country, the secretary of health and Human Services. The o. M. B. Director and the director of the centers for medicare and medicaid, explaining to the governors why they should support the administrations position why they should support the republican position here in the senate. Today the republicans sent out a strong letter, not just republicans. Republican governors, democratic governors sent out a joint letter, bipartisan letter, saying to us, basically do these things, their advice to us. Hit the pause button. Stop what were doing. Number two, pivot and stabilize stop destabilizing the exchanges. This administration is trying to destabilize the exchanges, which is a republican idea and i think actually a good idea. The administration can stop destabilizing the exchanges, but through a variety of tricks that they are pulling. The third thing we should do is stabilize the exchanges. And its not all that hard. Make it clear that the individual mandates are something or something very much like the individual mandate is going to be the law of the land, so that we end up with young, Healthy People in the exchanges. Not a lot of sick people and older people. Number two, reinsurance. One of the keys to the success of Medicare Part d, the drug Insurance Program for folks on medicare, one of the keys to his success there is reinsurance. And a number of us, led by senator tim kaine, myself and others, said why dont we take that tried and true idea and use it to help stabilize the exchanges . I spoke here earlier today on how that would actually work. Its not a democratic idea or a republican idea. Its just a good idea. The third thing we need to do to stabilize the exchanges, an idea actually suggested by a number of senators, including senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, which is to say that were going to continue to fund and authorize something called c. S. R. s, costsharing reductions, which actually reduce the copays, the deductibles for lower income people who buy their coverage on the exchanges. Those three things were told by Health Insurance companies would reduce the cost of premiums in all of the states anywhere from 25 to 35 . It would stabilize the exchange, and it would get other Insurance Companies to say i dont know if i want to insure in ohio or delaware or utah. Insurance companies would say well, i think i can offer products there, Insurance Products there and not lose my shirt, and theyll get back into the exchange. Theyll offer coverage. And when more than one or two offer coverage, guess what happens . You have competition. And do you know what flows from competition . Better diversity of products to choose from, lower costs. So those are three things that we could do to stabilize the exchange, and, frankly, theyre not all that hard. The fourth thing that the governors suggested that we do is basically regular order. Around here, regular order means people is a good idea, they introduce it. Turn it in up here at the front desk, and the idea, legislative idea goes to the committee of jurisdiction. There is a discussion whether or not there should be a hearing about that particular bill. If its a good bill, there may well be hearings. You have sponsors, it could be bipartisan, but eventually the idea is to have a hearing in committee. Those who like that idea or those who dont like that idea have an idea to show up in daylight, light of day, and say heres why i like it, heres why i dont like it and let their voices be heard. On issues that are as important as health care, why were not fully involving the governors is beyond me. I just dont get it. Who runs the Medicaid Programs . Well, the governors and the states. Thats a big part of what were debating in this battle. Ill close with this. I said it before earlier today, mr. President. Im going to say it again. As i travel around delaware talking to people in my little state, i have a lot of democrats, a lot of republicans, a lot of independents. They speak to me with one voice, and heres what they say Work Together. Solve some problems together. Democrats, republicans, take off your hats and Work Together. Thats what they want us to do. And its not just delaware. There is a Kaiser PermanenteNational Survey released last week. 71 of the people in this country surveyed said we ought to Work Together. Get this done. And if were smart, we will come back here before we leave for an august recess, we will stabilize the exchanges were the three things that i talked about. And the administration, they just need to stand down and just be quiet on this point. If they dont like this republican idea of the exchanges, just be quiet. But come back here in september and we go to work, regular order. Hearings. Bipartisan hearings, bipartisan roundtables, the chance for us to debate legislation, in committees, in the house, in the senate, on this floor, to debate amendments. Thats the way we ought to do this. Any time in this country when we have done really big things Social Security comes to mind, g. I. Bill comes to mind, 1986 tax reform comes to mind we didnt do it with just democratic votes or republican votes. We did it together. And if we do that, well be stronger together. I will close with an old african proverb. It goes Something Like this. If you want to go fast, go