Sen. Schatz: TrumpCare Is One of the Worst Pieces of Legislation I’ve Seen in Decades
Today,
"Trumpcare is one of the worst pieces of legislation I've seen in decades," said
To watch video of
Full remarks as prepared for delivery follows:
What do we call it? What do we call this new bill
Both of these men are branding experts. The president put his name on a line of steaks.
He's put his name on a magazine, on hotels. And here's the speaker of the house, who has worked hard to be thought of as a policy wonk and serious thinker, who has branded everything he's worked on, from the Ryan budget to "a better way."
But neither leader of the
The process has been a mess. And this is despite the fact that
Now, they're saying the score either doesn't matter, or is wrong--except for the areas where they look good.
They've spent the last 48 hours trashing the CBO when there's ample evidence that for the last 8 years, they've referred to
CBO as an expert source when it fits their needs.
Look--the legislative process requires hearings. It requires expert testimony.
And that's not a mere formality. That's how you get a decent product. And for all the complaints about how the ACA was passed, they had hearings. They had discussions.
Moving this fast without hearings is the kind of thing you do to name a post office--because it's non-controversial. Or it's the kind of thing you do for something you don't want people to look at very closely.
Because every moment that passes, the coalition frays--if it ever existed in the first place. Now, you have criticism from literally left, right, and center.
And that's in part because no one saw this coming. No one expected a bill that would look like this. During the campaign, this administration promised not to cut
But here we are. And if Trumpcare becomes law, 14 million people will lose their health insurance by next year.
Let me repeat that. In just one year, 14 million Americans will no longer have the health insurance they were promised.
I want to talk about what that means. What will it mean if people no longer have health care? This week, the
In McDowell County,
It's allowed them to see a counselor for mental health problems and opioid addiction. It's helped them afford the medication they need, instead of relying on free samples from clinics.
These services don't just benefit individuals. They benefit society by making sure that people are healthy and can work and contribute to our economy.
They allow us to save money by focusing on prevention instead of treatment.
This is what's at stake. These are the services that will go away, because Trumpcare is going to cut
Trumpcare is also going to impose an age tax that will allow insurance companies to charge older people more money for health insurance--a lot more.
And I want to be clear. We're not talking about the elderly here. We're talking about people who are pre-
The older you get, the more they charge you--starting at 25 years old.
That's why the
There's an important point to be made here about process--and that is this: This is not a health care bill. If it were a health care bill, it wouldn't be in reconciliation.
What does that mean? It means that
That means this bill is a tax vehicle. And so then the question becomes, who gets money, and who loses money?
And on that count, this is one of the biggest wealth transfers in American history. It's a transfer from working class Americans to rich Americans. That's what this bill does - it takes money from the people who need the most help, and gives it to the very wealthy.
Here we are in 2017, just a few months out from an election where income inequality was one of the driving issues.
And the
It's like they were asleep all last year. Or maybe they were never very serious about income inequality.
We don't need another election to know that this is not what the American people expect from
We can work together on health care, but it requires 3 things. First, good faith. Second, bipartisanship. Third, legislative hearings. And frankly, we haven't seen any of these, because this process is a mess.
We need to have a conversation in the light of day, and let the American people weigh in. What is the rush?
There's no doubt that there's plenty of room for improvement in existing law. But Trumpcare does not improve health care for Americans. It implodes it.
And that is a threat to the progress we've made these past 7 years. It's a threat to one-sixth of the economy. And most of all, it's a threat to at least 24 million people who stand to lose their health insurance
These threats are the reason that the
Let's have hearings. And most importantly, let's not impose this catastrophe on the American people.
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