Schumer Floor Remarks on the Russia Investigation, the Trump Administration’s Request for Delay in Cost Sharing Reduction Payments Lawsuit, and…

Schumer Floor Remarks on the Russia Investigation, the Trump Administration's Request for Delay in Cost Sharing Reduction Payments Lawsuit, and Trump's Budget Proposal

Date: May 22, 2017

Contact: Matt House, (202) 224-2939

Schumer Floor Remarks on the Russia Investigation, the Trump Administration's Request for Delay in Cost Sharing Reduction Payments Lawsuit, and Trump's Budget Proposal

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today delivered remarks on the Senate floor regarding the investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, the Trump Administration's request for a 90 day delay in the cost sharing reduction payments lawsuit, and President Trump's budget proposal. Below are his remarks:

Since last week's all-Senators briefing with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, some of my friends on the other side of the aisle have alleged that his appointment of a special counsel impedes the Congressional investigation into Russian interference in our elections and whether or not the Trump campaign was involved.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The executive branch investigation - under the special counsel - looks at criminal wrongdoing. The Congressional investigation takes a broader approach. The two can proceed on parallel tracks, as has happened many times in the past. If anything the congressional investigation is doing potentially interferes with the special counsel's activities, the two parties will discuss it. It's a process called "de-confliction." They know how to do it, they've done it before. There's no reason -- no reason whatsoever -- for the congressional investigation to slow down or stop.

Mr. Mueller's appointment as special counsel in no way diminishes the need for Congress to continue to play an active role in helping to get to the bottom of all the recent events. And let me repeat: this is our solemn constitutional duty; the very bedrock of the separation of powers and co-equal branches of government designed by our Founding Fathers to preserve something we all cherish, American liberty and American democracy.

First, Intelligence Committee Chairman Burr, Ranking Member Warner should continue to pursue their committee's investigation into these matters with just as much vigor. That investigation has been proceeding in a bipartisan way, and it absolutely should continue as such. For example, my friends Sens. Burr and Warner have recently requested the financial records of key Trump campaign officials from the Treasury Department. They should be given that information and continue to pursue whatever other avenues they view as helpful to the committee's investigation.

Second, Mr. Comey should testify in both the Judiciary and the Intelligence Committees to discuss the events surrounding his dismissal. The committees should be given access to memos he reportedly drafted following interactions with President Trump and Congress should also be provided any transcripts or "tapes" the White House might have of Mr. Comey's conversations with President Trump.

Third, the Intelligence Committee must be provided the details and transcripts relating to President Trump's reported disclosure of information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador.

There's a great deal of dispute about what was said at that meeting. The committee should have access to both Mr. Comey's notes and the White House's notes.

And finally, the Senate must demand that the next FBI Director be nonpartisan, independent, fearless, and of unimpeachable integrity - just as Mr. Mueller is. A career politician of either party or anyone who suggests a lack of impartiality should not be considered a fit choice for that office. Every one of these, by the way, deals with Congressional oversight, some directly like the appointment of an FBI Director, some a little more indirectly - such as figuring out what exactly was said in the room with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador. But all of it is clearly within what the Constitution requires and the Founding Fathers wanted Congress to be. So the Congressional committees have really an obligation to our democracy to continue their role.

Now, Mr. President, on another matter - healthcare.

Today the Trump Administration delayed for another 90 days their decision on whether or not to defend the administration's position in a lawsuit filed by the House Republicans about the cost-sharing payments in the Affordable Care Act. It's a decision that greatly increases the uncertainty in our healthcare system.

The cost-sharing program helps keep health care costs low for working Americans and helps insurers stay in the marketplace, giving Americans more choices. It keeps the average person's premiums down, it keeps their deductibles low; it makes it a lot easier for working Americans to afford health care. That was its purpose and it's succeeding in its purpose.

But by continuing to sow uncertainty about this program, both by refusing to defend the lawsuit and by making outright threats to end it, the Trump Administration has already caused insurers to flee the marketplace or propose rate increases for the next year.

Let me repeat: right now, the Trump Administration's actions are sowing great uncertainty that causes insurers to pull out of states and increase their costs, making it more likely that working Americans won't be able to afford coverage next year.

A spokesperson for the America's Health Insurance plans, the industry's main trade group, AHIP, said the following - this is their quote, not mine: "We need swift action and long-term certainty on [the cost-sharing program]. It is the single most destabilizing factor in the individual market, and millions of Americans could soon feel the impact of fewer choices, higher costs and reduced access to care."

The insurance industry itself is saying that the number one thing that could be done to keep costs down, to keep other insurers in the marketplace, is to make permanent cost sharing. President Trump's attempt to blame what's happening on Obamacare is totally contradicted by what the health insurance plans say when it comes to cost sharing.

So, refusing to guarantee the cost-sharing payments is sabotage, plain and simple. And the Trump Administration knows it.

Now, the Administration made the last cost-sharing payment but refuses to say that they will continue to make them permanently. They know they will get blamed for the chaos that would ensue should they end these payments - they're afraid to do that - but they want to threaten the stability of our healthcare system in order to get Democrats to work with them on their healthcare bill.

So what they tried to do is have their cake and eat it too. They said we're going to delay the lawsuit but we're still going to have that uncertainty that hurts Americans out there. That is profoundly irresponsible.

Threatening to defund healthcare in order to win political leverage is hostage taking at its very worst, because it holds millions of innocent Americans who very much need health care and need the costs to be lower and affordable hostage.

It's already causing massive uncertainty. It will only get worse if the Administration continues to kick the can down the road 3 months at a time.

There's one very simple solution: instead of delaying the decision every three months, the White House ought to step up to the plate and say once and for all that they will make these payments permanently (payments which help millions of Americans pay less for their health care). Payments, which the insurance industry itself says would help stabilize and help people gain health care.

Next, Mr. President, on the budget - the President of the United States will release his 2018 budget this week. It could come as early as tomorrow, and all indications are that it will be similar to his "skinny budget" from earlier this year.

I want to remind everyone here in the Senate what a disaster that budget would be if it were ever implemented by this Congress.

The President told the American people he would help create jobs and provide greater economic security for families. This budget does exactly the opposite. It's not a jobs budget. It's not an economic security agenda.

It's a budget that takes a meat cleaver to the middle class by gutting the programs that help them the most, including many that help create jobs and power the economy: transportation is cut, education is cut, programs that promote scientific and medical research are cut, programs that protect clean air and clean water are cut. All of these are favored - these programs are favored by a vast majority of my Republican friends across the aisle, but the President's budget is an outlier - way out there. It fits with Mr. Mulvaney's beliefs, because he was an outlier in the Congress when he called for the government to be shut down and when he wants to have the government play so little a role in helping the middle class, that it's harmful to America.

And there's another one that really is worrisome. Recent reports say that the president's budget will target Medicaid for significant cuts -- as large as or larger than the $880 billion that House Republicans would cut in their Trumpcare bill.

This would pull the rug out from so many Americans who need help: those suffering from opioid and heroin addiction, people in nursing homes and their families who care for them, the elderly, the disabled, and children.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that a cut to Medicaid of this size could deprive roughly 10 million Americans their Medicaid benefits over the next decade. Medicaid has always benefitted the poor. That's a good thing. But I remind my colleagues that it has increasingly become a middle-class program. Medicaid provides benefits for 60% of Americans in nursing homes. What about a 40 or 50-year-old trying to raise their kids, saving for college and has a parent who needs to be in a nursing home" Right now, Medicaid pays for it. What are they going to do when that's cut" They have two choices: shell a huge amount of money out of their own pocket, which they can't afford, or maybe bring mom or dad back home, where there may be no room at home for them. What a horrible choice. What a horrible choice. Well, that's what the President is proposing to do when he dramatically slashes Medicaid.

Listen to this, Mr. President and my colleagues: Medicaid helps 1.75 million veterans (1 in 10). It provides services for Americans struggling with opioid addiction, a problem that affects so many.

So if the reporting is accurate the cuts to Medicaid in the president's budget carries a staggering human cost.

And once again, Donald Trump is breaking his promise to the working people of America. We have seen promise after promise just broken, as if they didn't even matter. What he said in the campaign and what he governs as almost has no overlap in so many areas. Here's what Candidate Trump said when he campaigned: "I'm not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I'm not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid." He promised he would help take care of those suffering from opioid addiction. If it cuts Medicaid, he's breaking that promise, right in half. Candidate Trump campaigned as a populist, said he wanted to help the working people, but since he has taken office he has governed like a hard-right conservative - pushing policies that help the uber wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

Many of my Republican friends come from states that have significantly expanded their Medicaid programs over the past few years, insuring hundreds of thousands - sometimes millions - of their constituents.

Based on what we know about this budget, the good news - the only good news - is that it's likely to be roundly rejected by members of both parties here in the Senate - just as the last budget was.

We have shown that Democrats and Republicans, House and Senate, can come together to compromise on appropriations. We should follow the same blueprint we used in passing the 2017 funding bill in passing the 2018 bill. We should ignore the president's budget, which would devastate the middle class, and instead work across the aisle to advance reasonable, compromise legislation later this year.