Floor Statements

I announce that the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. Franken) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Merkley), and the Senator from Michigan (Mr. Peters) are necessarily absent.

I thank my colleague from Vermont.

Mr. President, in my hand is one of the closely kept secrets in Washington, DC. These eight pages have been so carefully guarded that for 3 days, we have been on the floor of the U.S. Senate waiting for this moment. Within the last hour, the Republicans finally released their plan to change healthcare for every American. We have been waiting a long time.

They have been meeting behind closed doors, in secret sessions, writing what I have in my hand. You have to think to yourself, why would they do it in secret? If this is something that will affect every American, family, business, and individual and if they are proud of what they have done, why did they wait so long? Well, when you read it, you can understand it, because this measure proposed by the Republican leadership makes things worse for American families when it comes to health insurance.

It has a great name. I am sure somebody invested time thinking about this one: The Health Care Freedom Act. It appears that for 16 million Americans, they will be free of health insurance protection; 16 million Americans will lose their health insurance protection because of this Republican plan. Every other American buying health insurance will be free to pay 20 percent more each year for the premiums on their health insurance. You don't have to be a math major to figure out compound interest at 20 percent a year. By the fourth year, you are knocking on a 100-percent increase in your premiums. Your health insurance premiums will double in about 4 years under the Republican plan.

Is that why they started this debate, so they could take health insurance away from millions of Americans and raise the cost of health insurance for others? Four Senators had a press conference this evening at 5 p.m. I watched it carefully. I listened as my colleagues came to the floor and those four Senators described this plan. They had seen it, this so-called skinny repeal plan. One of the Senators said that this plan was a ``fraud,'' it was a ``disaster,'' it would have a disastrous impact on the premiums charged to people he represented in his State, and it didn't achieve the goal of reforming and repairing the Affordable Care Act. I will quickly add--because you will think, well, we expect the Democrats to say that--this was a press conference of four Republican Senators about 6 hours ago. They had read the Republican plan and called it a ``fraud,'' a ``disaster,'' raising premiums, and not really bringing reform to healthcare in America.

It will take only one of those four Senators to stand up and speak up and vote no for the right thing to happen--for this proposal to go to committee where it should have started and to be considered by the experts first, so we know its real impact, and then to have an amendment process where better ideas might be offered and debated and added to this proposal--benefits voted out of committee. Then bring it to the floor of the U.S. Senate for the same thing to happen.

Do you know who came up with the radical idea that we should go through the committee process and both parties participate in writing this reform? None other than Senator John McCain. He came to this floor a couple of days ago. It was a historic moment. Everyone--both political parties--was cheering this man whom we have served with and love and respect. And he warned us. He warned us that if we didn't do this together--Democrats and Republicans--the results would be terrible.

Can you afford terrible results when it comes to healthcare for your family, for you, for your baby? Of course, you can't. We have to do our level best not to win the political debate but to win the confidence of the American people that we understand how to make healthcare better and more responsive in America.

I have been through a lot of measures, and I have voted on a lot of things over the years. My proudest vote was for the Affordable Care Act, because I knew we would extend the reach, protection, and peace of mind of health insurance to millions of Americans.

I had an experience early in my life. I was newly married and had a brand new baby girl with a serious health issue, and I had no health insurance--none. I went to the local hospital here, waiting in the charity ward, in the hopes that the doctor who walked through that door would be the one who would save my baby's life. I thought to myself: I will never let that happen again. I will have health insurance, no matter what it takes, the rest of my life. I know the feeling, and some others do too.

I don't want American families and individuals to go through this. I want them to have the peace of mind and protection of good health insurance. That is why this Republican proposal taking health insurance away from 16 million Americans is such a travesty. That is why the notion of raising health insurance costs beyond the reach of working families is so wrong and so disgraceful, and that is why, with the help of one more Republican Senator, we can send this measure back to a committee where it can be seriously considered, worked on, improved, and passed so that we can say to the American people: We did our job as Senators. We did what John McCain challenged us to do--to come together on a bipartisan basis and to make this a better bill.

I am glad my colleagues are here this evening. I am glad to see my friend from the State of Wyoming who is here. We have worked on many issues together. We disagree on this one, but I hope that he will realize and the others will, too, that this secret that they have kept from the American people is plain wrong. It is a secret that now it has been outed. It has to be put to rest. Let's do this the right way. Let's do it for the well-being and health of America families across this Nation.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, student loan borrowers currently carry about $1.4 trillion in student loan debt. This breaks down to about 44 million borrowers holding student loan debt with an average balance of $30,000. This crushing debt has pushed many borrowers to delay important life decisions, including marriage, having children, or buying homes. Despite that, some still choose careers in public service to give back to their community and support our country.

However, the immense burden of student loan debt is not put on pause while individuals choose to forgo other work opportunities to serve our Nation in the military or public service. Recognizing this, the Federal Government established two ways to alleviate some of this burden for those who serve our country.

The Servicemember Civil Relief Act protects our servicemembers from interest rates above 6 percent on all loans while they are on Active Duty. This protection extends to both public and private student loans taken out preservice.

Public service loan forgiveness encourages people to become public servants by forgiving student loan debt after 10 years of public service, including military service. Under this program; borrowers must enroll in a qualifying repayment plan and make 10 years of payments while working in public service before the loan is forgiven. Additionally, borrowers with Perkins or Federal Family Education Loans must consolidate their loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan.

However, the act of consolidating these loans carries an unintended consequence for servicemembers. Currently, if a servicemember chooses to consolidate his or her preservice loans to qualify for public service loan forgiveness, those loans are no longer eligible for the 6 percent interest rate cap provided under the Servicemember Civil Relief Act. The act of consolidating old debt for the purpose of enrolling public service loan forgiveness is treated as creating a new loan under current law, effectively forcing servicemembers to choose between the 6 percent interest rate cap while they are on Active Duty and enrolling in a program that will forgive their loans after 10 years of service and steady payments.

Requiring servicemembers to give up the interest rate cap while on Active Duty for a chance to earn loan forgiveness in the future was never the intention of Congress. Rather, in enacting the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and the Servicemember Civil

Relief Act, Congress intended to support servicemembers burdened with student loan debt. We owe it to our servicemen to fix this unintended consequence.

This week, Senator Duckworth and I reintroduced the Servicemember Student Loan Affordability Act. This bill would allow preservice private or Federal student loan debt to be consolidated or refinanced while retaining the 6 percent interest rate cap. This minor change to the law will have a significant impact on servicemembers with student loan debt by allowing them to get the benefits Congress intended for them.

The bill is supported by the American Legion, the Association of United States Navy, the National Guard Association of the United States, the Retired Enlisted Association, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Veteran Education Success, The Institute of College Access and Success, and the National Education Association.

I urge my colleagues to consider this simple solution to help servicemembers. I hope they will join Senator Duckworth and myself and support the Servicemember Student Loan Affordability Act.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, yesterday, on the floor of the Senate, there was a speech which will be remembered for a long time. Our friend and colleague Senator John McCain came to the floor just days after he had been diagnosed with a serious cancer challenge. He made the trip from Arizona to Washington to vote on the floor on this healthcare debate, then asked for 15 minutes of time afterward to speak to the Senate. Of course, he was given that opportunity.

During the time that we learned about his diagnosis and he was home, virtually every one of us sent our personal best wishes to him and his family. Our love and respect for John McCain is deeply felt in the U.S. Senate, and virtually everyone stayed on the floor to hear his speech. Look around the floor now. There aren't many people, right? As good as my speech may be, it is not going to touch the quality of what John delivered yesterday. I wanted to be here for it and so did my colleagues on the Democratic side and on the Republican side.

John said a lot about who we are and what we are in the U.S. Senate. Fewer than 2,000 individuals, in the history of the United States of America, have had the honor to stand here and speak on the floor of the Senate. This is a rare opportunity. For many of us, it is a dream come true and one we couldn't imagine, but what John said yesterday, to summarize part of his statement, is that we ought to understand our responsibilities, as well, as Senators.

We ought to be honest about what we now face in America when it comes to the political discourse, the political debate. What we face now is a divided country, a divided Senate, divided House, and yet a yearning by all Americans for us to step up and do something; make America a better nation; help America's families, the workers, the businesses; step forward and solve a problem. John reminded us yesterday that to do that, we needed to move to what he called the regular order.

It may not mean much to those who are just watching this debate and don't follow the Senate closely, but the regular order is to introduce a bill into

the Senate, send it to a committee, have the committee staff review it, experts take a look at it, call for a committee hearing so the American people can see what is in the bill, debate the back-and-forth at the hearing, then have members offer amendments--changes. Some will win, some will lose. Then the bill can come to the floor of the Senate for a similar process. It is an open, public process. That is what regular order is, and that is what John McCain spoke to.

Let me, at this point, quote what he said verbatim. I like this paragraph a lot so I am going to add it here. Here is what John McCain said yesterday on the floor of the Senate:

I hope we can again rely on humility, our need to

cooperate, on our dependence on each other to learn how to

trust each other again and, by so doing, better serve the

people who elected us.

I like this part:

Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and

television and the internet.

John McCain said:

To hell with them. They don't want anything done for the

public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood.

Let's trust each other. Let's return to regular order. We

have been spinning our wheels on too many important issues

because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from

across the aisle. That is an approach that has been employed

by both sides; mandating legislation from the top down,

without any support from the other side, with all the

parliamentary maneuvers it requires. We are getting nothing

done, my friends. We are getting nothing done.

John said it yesterday and it still applies and he is right. I say that as a Democrat with respect for him as a Republican, but if we are not going to do more than just listen and be warmed by his words and applaud his speech, what should we do at this moment?

What is pending before us on the floor of the U.S. Senate is legislation that will change healthcare for every single American-- every one of them. It will change it for us in the Senate, but it will change it for the 12.5 million people I represent in Illinois too. Every one of them will be changed by this bill. What is in this bill that will change it? We honestly can't tell you. The bill has not been written. We aren't able to see it. We are being told before the end of the week we will actually get a copy of the bill. I am not making that up.

We have tried several amendments on the floor, and they failed--one has failed. Several are likely to fail this afternoon, but there is no bill before us. We can't explain to the American people what this is ultimately going to be, except in the most general terms of what is being debated. That is embarrassing. It is embarrassing on the floor of the Senate.

What we should do is take this critical matter that affects every American and every American's healthcare and send it to a committee-- the HELP Committee, chaired by Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee; Ranking Member Patty Murray, who is a Senator from Washington; the Finance Committee, Senator Hatch of Utah, Republican; Senator Wyden of Oregon, Democrat. They need to sit down and look at these bills carefully.

Let's not make a mistake at the expense of the people who sent us here. Let's stand up for sound, thoughtful judgment. Let's stand up for a Senate that works, as John McCain challenged us. Is that what the American people wish? I think it is at the heart of all of it. I think John McCain really set a standard we ought to live up to. Let's stop this waste of time over a debate over a bill that cannot even be printed. Let's take this to the regular order. Let's do it the right way, to the credit of the Senate and to the credit of our country.

We took an oath, each and every one of us, to swear to uphold the Constitution. That Constitution, that document we revere, spells out exactly what we should do at this moment, which is stop what we are doing on this floor, stop wasting the time of the American people and endangering their healthcare and take this to a debate that is befitting a great Constitution and a great nation and a great Senate.

I yield the floor.

I do it with the hopes that those who speak after me, of both political parties, will first sit down and read what John McCain said yesterday and let their applause for his remarks be reflected in what they do on the floor of the Senate today.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I intend to offer the following motion to H.R. 1628, and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record. The motion is supported by Senators Blumenthal, Coons, and Carper.

For years, Republicans painted a drastic, dire picture of the Affordable Care Act. Just this week, President Trump talked about the so-called forgotten victims of the ACA.

The ACA isn't perfect--no law is--but to say it hasn't been a landmark achievement for our Nation and for my State would be absolutely wrong.

Our country's uninsured rate is at the lowest level in our Nation's history. In Illinois, our uninsured rate has been cut in half. These insurance gains are thanks to the Affordable Care Act.

Insurance companies can no longer deny someone coverage or charge them sky-high premiums because of a preexisting condition, benefitting roughly 5 million Illinoisans.

Insurance companies can no longer charge women more than men, drop someone from coverage when they get sick, charge seniors exorbitantly more than younger people for insurance, or refuse to cover important and essential health benefits.

I think these consumer protections represent a step forward in healthcare for people nationwide, and I don't believe we should get rid of them.

So my motion would instruct the Finance Committee to report out a bill--within 3 days--that would let any State keep the ACA if they want.-

These Republican repeal proposals are cruel and dangerous. States ought to be able to keep the ACA if they want, including all the record coverage gains, consumer protections and benefits, and Federal funding for the Medicaid expansion and tax credits.

If Senator Cruz wants to rip away health insurance ``root and branch'' from his constituents, that is fine.

But this motion protects any State who thinks we have made too much progress to turn back.

Madam President, I intend to offer the following motion to H.R. 1628, and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record. The motion is supported by Senators Blumenthal and Carper.

Some of the strongest opponents to the secretive and devastating Republican repeal effort are our hospitals, especially our rural hospitals, critical access hospitals, and safety net hospitals in underserved urban communities.

In particular, they warn us that the devastating cuts in Medicaid will dramatically increase uncompensated care costs.

The Illinois Hospital Association tells us that slashing Medicaid like these Republican repeal bills do will cost Illinois between 60,000 and 95,000 healthcare jobs.

You see, not only are our rural hospitals critical lifelines for healthcare in their communities, they are often the best jobs in town; yet these drastic Medicaid cuts will increase uncompensated care costs by billions, forcing cutbacks in services, staff, and expansion.

So my motion would instruct the Finance Committee to report out a bill--within 3 days--that would protect funding for these hospitals and prohibit increases in uncompensated care costs for these critical facilities.

Madam President, I intend to offer the following motion to H.R. 1628, and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record. The motion is supported by Senators Blumenthal and Carper.

Medicaid covers one in two births in Illinois. It helps pay for two out of every three seniors in nursing homes, and it is the largest payor of opioid and substance abuse treatment.

But guess what else Medicaid does? It helps 45 percent of school districts provide medical and therapy services for

lower-income kids and those with special needs.

That is right, Illinois schools currently receive about $144 million in Medicaid funding each year.

They use this money to provide dental screenings, therapy services for kids with disabilities, to purchase handicap equipment, and employing trained staff.

What would happen to kids nationwide if the $4 billion in Medicaid funding for schools went away?

My motion would to commit would instruct the Finance Committee to report out a bill--within 3 days--that would protect funding for schools and students and says, if you want to slash Medicaid, it won't be on the backs of our kids.

Madam President, I intend to offer the following motion to H.R. 1628, and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record. The motion is supported by Senators Blumenthal and Carper.

When thinking about Medicaid, we often talk about low-income children or pregnant women. But do you know the most expensive part of Medicaid?

It is providing long-term care for your grandmother, your grandfather--at home or in the nursing home.

When Social Security and Medicare aren't enough, Medicaid steps in to care for millions of seniors over age 65.

Medicaid helps pay for two out of three seniors currently in nursing homes.

These Republican proposals to slash Medicaid are so devastating that the American Association of Retired Persons, AARP, has come out in loud opposition to all the repeal bills.

My motion to commit would instruct the Finance Committee to report out a bill--within 3 days--that protects the millions of seniors who rely on Medicaid for their care and says, if you want to slash Medicaid, it will not be on the backs of our vulnerable seniors.

Madam President, I intend to offer the following motion to H.R. 1628, and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record. The motion is supported by Senator Blumenthal.

Over the past few months, I have met with many heroes in the disability community, including a woman in Illinois who has a 23-year- old son with autism. She told me that Medicaid allows her son to be at home and function independently.

She told me that, without Medicaid, her son would have to be in a facility she couldn't afford.

You know what else all of these advocates and fighters tell me? They tell me that the Republican healthcare repeal proposals--all of which decimate the Medicaid Program in order to give tax breaks to the wealthy--would be devastating for people with disabilities.

Medicaid is a lifeline for 11 million people with disabilities. It is the core of our commitment to care for them, and it helps us meet our basic obligations as a society.

That is why my motion to commit would instruct the Finance Committee to report out a bill--within 3 days--that protects children and adults on Medicaid with disabilities from increased costs and fewer benefits.

Madam President, I intend to offer the following motion to H.R. 1628, and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record. The motion is supported by Senator Blumenthal.

Under the ACA, our Nation has seen the largest decline in the child uninsured rate, and in Illinois, we have seen a 40 percent drop. Today more than 95 percent of kids in our country are insured.

Half of all children born in Illinois are covered by Medicaid.

That means they are guaranteed quality, comprehensive health coverage, from vaccinations and vision checks, to dental health, mental health, and lead poisoning screenings.

Medicaid serves low-income children in schools, and -I have visited many school-based health clinics that provide critical access and services for our kids.

But every single Republican healthcare repeal proposal would slash Medicaid for our most vulnerable kids, jeopardizing the services they receive and their ability to access care.

That is why my motion to commit would instruct the Finance Committee to report out a bill--within 3 days--that protects our kids and tells Republicans they will not be a bargaining chip in this cruel repeal effort.

Madam President, I intend to offer the following motion to H.R. 1628, and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record. The motion is supported by Senators Blumenthal and Carper.

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Medicare is now financially stable for an additional 11 years.

Because of the healthcare reforms that improve the delivery of healthcare, seniors are now paying $700 less annually in premiums and cost-sharing.

The ACA is also closing the dreaded Medicare ``donut hole''--the gap where seniors were faced with high costs for their drugs--saving 11 million seniors an average for $2,127 each year on their medications.

But Republicans want to jeopardize this progress.

Instead of strengthening Medicare for the long run, many of the Republican repeal bills would give a huge tax giveaway to wealthy Americans--cutting years off Medicare's solvency.

That is why my motion to commit would instruct the Finance Committee to report out a bill--within 3 days--that does not shorten Medicare's solvency.

Madam President, I intend to offer the following motion to H.R. 1628, and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed the Record.

When Republicans talk about the challenges facing Obamacare, they

tend to be a bit misleading. Let's set the record straight.

What they are really talking about is within the individual market, where 6 percent of Americans get their coverage and more than 70 percent of those people get subsidies to help cover their costs.

One problem Republicans like to cite is lack of competition, that private, for-profit insurers are pulling out, leaving few choices.

We call these ``bare counties,'' and they are more common in rural areas and in States that did not expand Medicaid.

I agree that we need more competition in the individual market.

As a solution, my motion to commit instructs the Finance Committee-- within 3 days--to report out a bill that requires insurers offering Medicare Advantage plans in a particular county, to also offer an individual market plan in that county.

Medicare Advantage insurance plans make huge profits off the Federal Government, yet many of those same insurers are refusing to participate in the individual exchange.

To address bare counties, my motion says that, if you have a provider network and you are making money off the Federal Government, then you should also help improve choice by offering a plan in the exchange.

Madam President, I intend to offer the following motion to H.R. 1628, and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record. The motion is supported by Senator Blumenthal.

All of these Republican repeal bills shift costs onto consumers, patients, hospitals, and State budgets.

None of them do anything to actually address what is driving the increase in healthcare costs. And one of those biggest drivers? Pharmaceutical costs--Blue Cross of Illinois tells me they spend more on prescription drugs than inpatient hospital care.

So what can we do to address prescription drugs? Listen to the American Medical Association, which called for a ban on direct-to- consumer pharmaceutical advertising.

According to the AMA, these ads are, ``driving demand for expensive treatments despite the clinical effectiveness of less costly alternatives.'' In short, pharma advertises their drugs because they know you will tell your doctor you need it--driving up the cost-- regardless of whether it's right for you. That is why they spend billions on it.

But the moment of truth on when patients find out about the cost is when they are checking out at the pharmacy. That is wrong.

So my motion to commit would instruct the Finance Committee--within 3 days--to report out a bill that helps lower the cost of healthcare by tackling the driving cost of prescription drugs, requiring pharmaceutical companies to disclose the price of their drug in their ads.

Madam President, I intend to offer the following motion to H.R. 1628, and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record. The motion is supported by Senator Blumenthal.-

All of these Republican repeal bills shift costs onto consumers, patients, hospitals, and state budgets.

None of them do anything to actually address what is driving the increase in healthcare costs. And one of those biggest drivers? Pharmaceutical costs--Blue Cross of Illinois tells me they spend more on prescription drugs than inpatient hospital care.

So what can we do to address prescription drugs? Have Medicare negotiate drug prices on behalf of seniors. Even the President says he supports this policy.

Medicaid can negotiate drug costs, the Veterans Administration can negotiate drug costs, why shouldn't Medicare be able to leverage its 50 million beneficiaries to get a better deal?

This motion is simple; it is something the President has talked about, something the American people support.

This motion to commit would instruct the Finance Committee--within 3 days--to report out a bill that would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to begin negotiating drug prices on behalf of seniors in Medicare.

Madam President, I intend to offer the following motion to H.R. 1628, and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record. The motion is supported by Senator Duckworth.

The process Republicans have undertaken to repeal our healthcare law has been secretive, wrong, and undemocratic.

At first, it was 13 chosen apostles--all men--meeting in secret to craft their repeal measure.

At this moment, I don't know who is hiding in the shadows writing their repeal measure.

But what I do know is that there have been no hearings, no opportunity for public input, and no opportunity for myself and Senator Duckworth--as representatives of Illinois--to offer input.

If myself and Senator Duckworth have been locked out of the process from the beginning, why then should our constituents have to pay the price for this partisan Republican effort?

So our motion is simple. It says that this Republican repeal bill cannot unfairly impose hardships on our Illinois constituents. It cannot increase costs on my constituents, cut services or benefits or eligibility for my constituents, eliminate essential health benefits for my constituents, or impose lifetime limits or discriminate against my constituents with preexisting conditions.

If Senator Cruz who has been allowed to have input on this repeal bill--wants to rip away health insurance ``root and branch''from his constituents, that is fine.

But this motion protects my constituents in Illinois.

Madam President, I intend to offer the following motion to H.R. 1628, and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record.

The Commonwealth of Kentucky has benefitted immensely from the Affordable Care Act.

Its uninsured rate has fallen 61 percent, one of the sharpest declines of any State.

Kentucky chose to expand Medicaid, allowing 150,000 people to gain coverage.

More than 1.4 million Kentuckians are no longer subjected to lifetime or annual caps on their benefits.

Kentucky, sadly, has been one of the States hardest hit by the opioid epidemic. Thanks to the ACA, substance abuse treatment has increased 740 percent among Kentucky residents on Medicaid.

Today, 881,000 Kentuckians--33 percent of adults--have a preexisting condition that, before Obamacare, could have left them uninsurable.

So to ensure the health cand well-being of the residents of my neighboring State, Kentucky, this amendment says you cannot increase costs; cut services, benefits, or eligibility; eliminate essential health benefits; or impose lifetime limits or discriminate against Kentuckians with preexisting conditions.

If the Senators representing the Commonwealth want to rip away health insurance from their constituents, undermine protections for Kentuckians with preexisting conditions, and raise costs on older Kentuckians, well, count this neighboring Senator in to fight on their behalf.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Thank you, Mr. President.

History was made on the floor of the Senate Chamber today. I don't think it

has ever happened before. Think about this: 50 out of 100 Senators came to the floor with the Vice President of the United States and voted to begin debate on a bill they have never seen--a bill they have never seen--because we don't know what the Republicans are going to offer as the alternative to the Affordable Care Act.

There have been a lot of different versions. Technically, the one that is before us now is the version that passed the House of Representatives, but I think the Republican leader, Senator McConnell, has known from the beginning that has no chance whatsoever. So many Republicans have taken a look at what the House passed and said: We can't vote for that. You have to give us something different. The problem the Senate Republicans ran into is that they couldn't come up with anything better.

They tried. They wrote several different versions, and every time they would write a version of the new Affordable Care Act, it got worse for the American people, and here is what I mean. Under one proposal for the Republicans--not the one before us, but the Senate Republicans--1 million people in my home State of Illinois would have lost their health insurance. There are 12.5 million people in Illinois, and 1 million would have lost their health insurance because of dramatic cutbacks in Medicaid and cutbacks in the premium support that is given to a lot of working families to buy regular health insurance in the health insurance market.

It was so terrible that every time Republicans came up with a Senate proposal, two or two of them would announce: Can't buy it, won't vote for it--and ran away from it.

So Senator McConnell came to the floor today and said: I am begging you, just vote to open debate on a bill that I haven't written yet, and 50 Republican Senators did, and the Vice President broke the tie, the 50-to-50 tie to move forward, and here we are.

Let me start by tossing flowers--and this will probably get them in trouble--to two Republican Senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. They were the only two Republican Senators who had the courage to stand up and say: This is wrong. We shouldn't do this to the American people. They are the only two who are willing to say that we should have done this differently.

There is an interesting thing that happened at the end of this. At the very last moment, the very last vote that was cast was cast by Senator John McCain. Everybody knows John has been diagnosed with a serious form of cancer. He made it back from Arizona here to cast his vote, and he asked for 15 minutes after the rollcall to make a speech. I don't think many, if any, Senators left the Chamber. Democrats and Republicans stuck around to hear his speech after the vote. Can I tell you that is unusual in the Senate? Most of us race for the doors and go up to our offices and watch on television and may catch a piece of this speech and a piece of the other speech, but we sat and listened because of our respect for John McCain.

He is my friend. We came from the House of Representatives together many years ago. I served with him in the Senate when we put together a bipartisan group to rewrite the immigration laws for America--four Democrats, four Republicans. I sat across the table with John for months. We went back and forth through all the provisions on immigration. John even conceded today that he has an interesting temper. There were days when John McCain was Mount Vesuvius, just exploding in every direction, and you had to step back. And there were days when he smothered you with kindness. That is the way he is. We love him for it.

He came today to give a speech that every American should read if you want to understand how a Democratic Senator can stand on the floor and give compliments and praise to a Republican Senator, which I am about to do. Senator McCain said that we have to do something about this country of ours--the political divisions. I will not get the words perfectly, but he said to us: Will you please start ignoring these radio and TV and internet talking heads who want us to fail and make a living by laughing at us? Will you ignore those people? Instead, look to what this institution, the U.S. Senate, is all about and what we should be doing to solve the problems for the people we represent.

John McCain went on to say: Why don't we have debates on the floor of the Senate anymore?

Do you know what? He is right. We are 7 months into this year's Senate session. We have not had one bill on the floor of the Senate that we have debated and amended--not one. This is a first, and it is in this kind of convoluted reconciliation process where you speed up the amendments.

Think about this. We are amending your healthcare policy that affects you and your family. We are amending how you will buy health insurance as an individual and how your company will buy health insurance for you. We are amending, basically, whether your insurance policy is going to protect your family or not. Listen to how it works.

People propose an amendment, and then we debate it. Do you know how long we debate it? We debate it for 1 minute on both sides. Disgraceful. John McCain called us on it today and asked: Why have we reached this point when an issue this important is going through a process that is totally partisan?

You see, the Republicans decided early on that they were not going to invite us to the party; that they were going to write this healthcare bill by themselves, in secret. Senator McConnell picked 13 Republican Senators, and they sat for I don't know how long--months, weeks--and wrote a bill. One of them I mentioned earlier was ultimately rejected by the Republicans themselves. John McCain challenged us and said: For goodness' sake. He has been in the Senate--and I have too--during a time when it was much different. He really begged us, pleaded, and urged us to get back to that time when we worked together on a bipartisan basis to solve problems. John McCain was right. I did not agree with his vote to put us in this position we are in at this moment, but I was encouraged by the way he closed. He turned to Senator McConnell, who was sitting right there, and said to him: Do not count on my vote on final passage. I want to see what we do in this bill. I want to see how we debate this bill.

One Republican Senator like John McCain can make the difference as to whether this process stops and a real bipartisan process starts. Isn't that what the American people expect of us?

Seated in the Chair, the Presiding Officer, is a brandnew Senator from the State of Alabama.

Welcome, Senator Strange.

He comes here because Senator Sessions went on to become the Attorney General. He has seen the Senate for a couple of months or 3 months, maybe--5 months now--and I am sure he has his impressions of this body. They may be different than what he thought about it before he was elected. Yet I can tell him for sure that this is a much different Senate than the one Patty Murray was elected to, that it is much different than the one I was elected to. Even for Mike Enzi, my friend from Wyoming, it is much different than the one he saw.

I see my colleague here, Senator Schatz, from Hawaii.

How long have you been here now, Brian?

Four-and-a-half years.

He is a newbie, and he has not seen the Senate I am describing.

Can you believe there was a time in the Senate when we would bring an important measure to the floor on many different issues, and Members would come to the floor--I am not making this up--and actually hand an amendment to the clerk and say: I would like to offer an amendment to the bill. Then we would debate it, and then we would vote on it. Sometimes you won, sometimes you lost, and you moved on to the next amendment. That actually happened on the Senate floor. For the people who are new to the Senate, I am sure they do not believe me, but it did happen over and over and over. We had a healthy respect for one another. The amendments went back and forth, and we ended up seeing bills passed that made a difference in America.

What we are doing now is a disgrace to this institution, and it does not honor the Senate, its Members, or our Constitution when what is at stake is

so important. In looking at some of the provisions that have been brought before us in the Senate's Republican repeal bills to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I do not know how they can do it. I do not know how Senators could go home and say in their home States: A million of you are going to lose your health insurance because of something I just voted for.

Health insurance means a lot to me personally. I have said it on the floor. There was a time in my life when I was a brandnew law student and was married. God sent me and my wife this beautiful little baby. She had some health issues, and we had no health insurance, as I was a law student. We ended up sitting in the charity ward of a local hospital here in Washington, hoping our baby girl would have a good, talented, capable doctor walk through the door and see her. I was not sure because I did not have health insurance. I will never forget that as long as I live, and I thought to myself that it will never happen to me again. I am going to have health insurance no matter what it takes. It meant that much to me, and it means that much to everybody.

There is not a single one of us who does not want the peace of mind of knowing that if we get sick or if someone we love gets sick, he will have access to good hospitals and good doctors. That is what health insurance is all about. As the Republican proposals eliminate health insurance for 60 million, 20 million, 30 million Americans, you ask yourself: How can you do that to this country?

The cuts they make in Medicaid have really educated America about Medicaid. People know about Social Security. They know what that is all about. We all pay into it and wait to receive our Social Security checks when we reach that age. They also know about Medicare. You have to be 65 years of age. It is pretty good coverage, isn't it? The ones who receive it think it is a pretty good deal to have Medicare coverage when they reach the age of 65, but Medicaid was one of those mystery programs. People were not sure. What does it do? The Medicaid Program in America does the following:

In Illinois, that program takes care of half of the new mothers and their babies. Half of them are paid for by Medicaid--prenatal care to make sure the baby is healthy, the delivery of the baby. Afterward, the mom and baby are taken care of, paid for by Medicaid. This is one out of every two births in Illinois.

Medicaid also sends provisions--money--to your local school districts. I will bet you did not know that. If your local school district has a special education program--and virtually all of them do--they receive Medicaid to pay for some basics. It pays for counselors for special ed students. Sometimes transportation in a local school district in downstate Illinois or feeding tubes for some severely disabled students are paid for by Medicaid. You may not know that for disabled people, Medicaid is their health insurance. Many of them have no place else to turn.

I mentioned on the floor before that a mother in Champaign, IL, with an autistic child, said: Senator, if it were not for Medicaid, my son would have to go into an institution. I couldn't afford it.

Medicaid is his health insurance.

I have not touched the most expensive part of Medicaid of which you may not know, which is that two out of three people in nursing homes depend on Medicaid to get basic medical care. Medicare is not enough. They need the help of Medicaid. So if it is Mom or Dad or Grandma or Grandpa who is in a nursing home, two out of three of them depend on Medicaid.

The Republican bill to replace the Affordable Care Act says we are going to cut the spending on Medicaid, that 25 to 35 percent will be cut. That is why Governors of both political parties have screamed bloody murder: You cannot do that. You are cutting the Federal contribution to Medicaid in our States. Who is going to pay for that baby? Who is going to pay for the mom? Who is going to pay the school district? Who is going to pay for the disabled? Who will take care of the folks in nursing homes?

Why did they make that deep of a cut in Medicaid--a program that is so important to so many people? There is the tough part. That deep of a cut was made in Medicaid so Republicans, in their healthcare proposal, could include a tax break for the wealthiest people in America, for health insurance companies, and--get this--for pharmaceutical companies. To give them tax breaks, they had to cut Medicaid coverage for all of the people whom I just described.

Is it any wonder that many Republicans backed away from this? Senator Heller, of Nevada, talked to Governor Sandoval--both Republicans--and said he could not support an early version of the bill because of the deep cuts in Medicaid.

If this is supposed to be an improvement over the Affordable Care Act, which part of it is an improvement? Is it in cutting Medicaid coverage for all of those people, saying that your health insurance policy does not have to cover people with preexisting conditions, raising the cost of healthcare premiums, particularly for people between the ages of 50 and 64, eliminating health insurance for millions? Is that an improvement over the current system? It is not. It is a disaster.

The question is, By the end of this debate, after we have gone through this crazy process of voting up and down quickly and with very little debate, will one more Republican Senator stand up and say unacceptable? Two of them have. If one more will join them, then we can get down to the real business we should face. The real business is being the Senate again with regular order, which means taking the measure to the HELP Committee. Senator Murray, of Washington, is the ranking Democrat. Senator Lamar Alexander is the chairman from Tennessee. I respect him and like him a lot. The two of them ought to have hearings on a bill to change the affordable care system and make it work better, bring down the cost of premiums, and expand health insurance coverage. I think that is what we should be all about.

Now, there is a basic difference in philosophy here. I will close with this, but this is what drives us. Answer the following question, and I can tell you how you are going to vote on this bill:

Do you believe healthcare is a right for every American or do you believe it is a privilege; that if you have enough money and you are lucky enough, you can get it, and if you don't, you go without.

If you answer the question that it is a right, that it should be a right in America, then you have to reject this approach. You cannot take helpless people, some of whom are working hard in two and three jobs at a time and who have no healthcare benefits, and say to them: Sorry. Our system will not take care of you.

One last point. The irony of that is that if you do not give people health insurance, if you do not give them protection, they still get sick, they still go to the hospital, and they still get care. What happens to the bills they cannot pay? Everybody else pays them. Before the Affordable Care Act, each of us paid $1,000 a year in premiums just to cover for the people who could not afford health insurance.

We think there is a better way. We think Americans should have access to affordable health insurance across the board, and we think we can achieve that if we work together on a bipartisan basis. So I hope one more Republican Senator will join Senators Collins and Murkowski and bring us back to what John McCain described on the floor today to the Senate--of having a real debate about real issues and really caring about the American people.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, this week--perhaps as early as tomorrow-- Majority Leader McConnell, who just left the floor, will ask the Senate to vote on a bill we have not seen. That is right. We will be voting this week on a bill we haven't seen. I think it is a first. I am going to do a little research to see if this has ever happened before in the Senate, where Members of the Senate were brought together to vote on a bill that has not been made public or printed for us to review.

This isn't an inconsequential bill. This is a bill about the healthcare system of the United States of America. There is not a single American living in our Nation today who will not be affected by our vote this week because we are in the process of deciding whether we will change healthcare in America, health insurance in America, and there is not a single one of us who doesn't have a health insurance plan, either private or public, or not affected by the health insurance industry in healthcare across the United States. In fact, healthcare itself represents one-sixth of the American economy.

So we are being asked to vote on a bill this week which has not been printed and given to us and which will change healthcare for every single American and affect one-sixth of the American economy.

We do know that some of the previous provisions that have been brought before us on the Republican side have an impact--a negative impact--and in my State of Illinois, a very personal negative impact.

We know that their effort to repeal ObamaCare, which has been a political slogan that has been used for 6 or 7 years, ran into a wall when the American people said: Well, if you repeal it, what is left? What will be there? What will replace it?

At that point, the Republican effort disassembled. They didn't have an alternative. They spent the last 6 years

under ObamaCare--the Affordable Care Act--saying ``No, repeal it'' without spending the time to think about what would follow, what is next.

The Congressional Budget Office--this is an interesting thing--the Congressional Budget Office is a nonpartisan agency that we turn to that evaluates our work. They take a look at the bills we write, and they take a look at the laws that will pass, and they say: Well, this is the impact it will have on the deficit, on future generations, on entitlement programs.

Sometimes the Congressional Budget Office is maddening. They take forever. I don't know what is going on over there, but what you think is a simple question can take weeks and sometimes longer to result in an analysis, and there are times when I just flat out disagree with their analysis.

Let me give an example. When we debated the Affordable Care Act, we said that one of the things we need to do is make sure there is plenty of preventive medicine. For example, we make sure under the Affordable Care Act that every senior gets a free annual physical. Our belief is, if you detect a problem a person has early enough, you might be able to lessen its impact or actually cure it. We said that to the Congressional Budget Office, and they replied to us: You cannot put a dollar value on preventive medicine.

Well, it is common sense; isn't it? If you find something early, it is more likely to be cured. It is cheaper. No, you can't put a dollar on it.

So the Congressional Budget Office sometimes can frustrate us, but we rely on them, and I would say, for the most part, they do give us good advice. I don't agree completely with them, but they give us good advice.

Do you know what they say about the Republican repeal plans that have been passed in the House of Representatives and the various versions that have been suggested? They believe those repeal efforts will take health insurance away from 22 million to 32 million Americans.

Think about that. We passed the Affordable Care Act because so many people in America had no health insurance, and we wanted to make sure they had it--for their own peace of mind, for their own good health, to make sure there was fairness in our system so sick people without health insurance who are cared for don't have their bills passed on to everybody else. Well, the Congressional Budget Office took a look at the Republican plan, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives by four votes--all Republican votes--four votes, and they looked at the plans proposed by Senator McConnell and the Republicans, and they said: At the end of the day, 22 to 32 million Americans will lose their health insurance. They said, in my State of Illinois, 1 million out of 12\1/2\ million will lose their health insurance.

I cannot understand how any Senator of either political party could, in good conscience, come here and say: Boy, we had a great week. We just passed a healthcare reform bill, and 1 million people in Illinois will lose their health insurance. Really? That is why you ran for the U.S. Senate, to take health insurance coverage away from people? I would have thought common decency, common sense would suggest we want to do just the opposite. We want more and more people to fall under the protection of health insurance.

We also know some of the reforms we built into the Affordable Care Act are going to be changed by at least the early versions of the Republican repeal bill. Like what? One out of three Americans has a preexisting medical condition. A few weeks ago, I went through a heart procedure that worked out just fine--thank you--but now I have a preexisting condition. I am in pretty big company: one out of three people across the United States.

Remember the day before we passed the Affordable Care Act? Before we passed the Affordable Care Act, if you had a preexisting condition, if you could get health insurance, it was darned expensive.

A good friend of mine had a trucking company. He had some problems with his ankle. He went to the doctor. The next year, when they wrote the health insurance plan for his trucking company, they excluded anything on the health insurance policy affecting his legs and his feet. Each year, he said, I was afraid to turn in any claim because the next year they wouldn't cover him. It is a preexisting condition.

We changed that. We changed the law. We said, in America, when you sell health insurance, you cannot discriminate because of preexisting conditions. You can't discriminate with higher premiums because you have a child with diabetes. You can't discriminate with higher premiums if your wife has survived breast cancer. Now, to me, that is common sense, and it is humane.

The Republican approach allows the States to waive that--back to the bad old days, when preexisting conditions could run your premiums through the roof, where you have haves and have-nots when it comes to health insurance, and Republicans said the other protections we put in the Affordable Care Act are also on the chopping block.

For example, my wife and I raised three kids, put them through college. They had their health insurance when they were students. They came out of college looking for jobs--thank you--and it took a little while to find the right job, and we worried: Now that they are not in school, whose health insurance is going to protect them while they are looking for a job with benefits?

We put in the Affordable Care Act that your kids--young adults--can stay under your family health insurance plan until they reach the age of 26. It is just common sense. Keep them under the family plan until they have a chance to get that job with benefits.

We put other provisions in there--lifetime limits. It used to be, you would buy health insurance in this country and to keep the costs down, they would say: We have you covered. Up to $150,000, you are covered. Now, $150,000 sounds like a huge amount of money to people of modest means and working families, but we all know you are one accident or one diagnosis away from having medical bills that go through the roof. So $150,000? Get real. That could be 2 days in a hospital with a doctor and a surgery or radiation. That is the reality.

So we took lifetime limits off the policies. They can't do that to you in America anymore. When you buy health insurance, you have health insurance, and if, God forbid, your condition takes your bills to sky heaven, they are going to be covered. Now the Republicans say: Well, that is another thing we will take out. We will make that optional.

Can I tell you one other one that really gets me because it was a big debate here for years. Back where my friend Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is standing used to be the desk of Paul Wellstone, a liberal Senator from the State of Minnesota. What a good guy--terrific guy--short, feisty. Boy, when he got into a fight, you wanted to be on his side.

Paul Wellstone teamed up with a man who sat right there named Pete Domenici. Pete Domenici was exactly the opposite politically: from New Mexico, conservative, Republican, disagreed with Wellstone on virtually everything, except for one thing. Each of them had in their families someone suffering from mental illness. They decided they were going to do something about the fact that most health insurance plans did not cover mental illness. It was a battle that went on for years to require health insurance to include mental illness and they won the battle and we put it in the Affordable Care Act. Now, the Republicans say: Let's make that optional. This is something you can buy if you want to buy it.

At the end of the day, I think we all know we need a health insurance plan which is there when we need it, that covers things we can't even imagine when we buy the health insurance, and it makes sure people don't end up broke and bankrupt because of healthcare bills.

That was the driving cause, the driving reason for people filing bankruptcy in America--medical bills. They couldn't pay them. Since we passed the Affordable Care Act, the number of bankruptcies filed because of medical bills has been cut in half. So good health insurance that covers you when you need it and covers a member of your family when you need it is essential. That is why this debate and this vote tomorrow are so essential.

One thing I forgot to mention. Wellstone and Domenici didn't just

cover mental illness. They put another provision in there, and most of us paid no attention to it: substance abuse treatment. That has to be covered in health insurance too. Is that important? Have you heard of the opioid epidemic, the heroin epidemic?

I recently asked one of the best providers in Chicago about this, and they said: Luckily, people who have a child who ends up being addicted and needs treatment, if they have private health insurance, there is some coverage. Now, there is a battle about how many bills will be paid and how much is paid, but it is covered under the health insurance plan. Republicans want to make that optional. They call it freedom of choice.

The junior Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz, talks about policies you could buy that are really cheap policies. We call it junk insurance. You are insured in name only. If you need it, it isn't going to be there. That has been in the Republican plans that have come before us. We don't know whether that will be in the plan we have to vote on tomorrow. We don't know. It is a mystery.

How many hearings have been held on the bill we will vote for tomorrow on proceeding to change healthcare in America? None. Not one. How many amendments have been offered? Of course, none. We haven't seen it. We don't know.

We also know something else. The Republican plan on healthcare will slash the Medicaid Program. Most people--myself included--a few years ago, would have been stumped to describe the Medicaid Program and what it covered. Now, I will tell you what it covers, and think about cutting what I am about to describe by 25 to 35 percent.

No. 1, half of the children born in the State of Illinois are paid for by Medicaid. Their mother's prenatal care, the birth of the child, and postnatal care of mom and the kid is covered by Medicaid--one-half.

In addition to that, every school district in my State--probably in Rhode Island, probably in Oklahoma--receives Medicaid payments--school districts. Why? For the kids with special education needs. Medicaid helps pay for counselors so these kids can be mainstreamed in education. Medicaid in my State even pays for feeding tubes for those severely disabled children who are in school--but a 25- to 35-percent cut in the Republicans' proposals for Medicaid.

The most expensive thing in Medicaid, the thing that costs the most money, I haven't mentioned. Is your mother in a nursing home? Is your father? Your grandfather? Sixty percent of the people in nursing homes rely on Medicaid to stay in that nursing home and get the basic care they need. So when you cut that by 25 to 35 percent, what happens to Mom? What happens to your grandfather? Does that mean the family now has a bill to pick up? Does that mean they have to leave the nursing home and go somewhere else? Where will that be? Yet that is one of the proposals.

The disabled community, they stepped up as well. Medicaid is health insurance for disabled people in America. A woman in Champagne came to me and said: I have a 23-year-old son with autism. He is pretty good. He is kind of on his own. He is doing some things. Senator, if he didn't have Medicaid health insurance, I would have to put him in an institution. I don't want to do that.

How important is Medicaid? How important is it that the Republicans will slash this Medicaid? It gets to the heart of healthcare for tens of millions of people in the United States of America.

Why do Republicans want to cut Medicaid? It is simple. It is linear. It is direct. They have to cut $700 billion out of Medicaid to provide a tax cut for the wealthiest people in America.

Oh, Durbin, you are making that up. This must be a press release from the Democratic National Committee. No, that is exactly what it is all about. In order to pay for the tax cuts to the highest income individuals, to pharmaceutical companies, and to health insurance companies, they cut Medicaid payments to the States. They think that is simple justice, a tax cut. They are always for tax cuts, but look who pays for that tax cut.

So who lines up for and against the Republican approach we are going to get to vote on tomorrow? That is easy. There is not a single medical advocacy group in America today supporting the Republican position. That is a pretty broad statement. You had better be ready to back it up, Senator. I am ready. Hospitals, doctors, nurses, pediatricians, every medical advocacy group, and community clinics all oppose what the Republicans are setting out to do--and they are not alone. Remember the preexisting conditions? I mentioned diabetes and cancer. The American Diabetes Association, the American Cancer Association, the American Heart, Lung, you name it, all of those groups oppose what the Republicans are setting out to do. They realize it is a dramatic step backward in terms of healthcare in America.

Every healthcare repeal bill Congressional Republicans have devised to date has represented a massive step backward for healthcare. None of the bills proposed by Senate or House Republicans would increase the number of Americans with health insurance coverage. It does just the opposite. None of them reduce costs or improve care.

You say: Well, if you tell me you don't know what the bill is going to be, how are you describing it? I am giving the composite of all the bills that have been offered by the Republicans in the House and Senate. So far, we think--one in the House for sure--four different bills in the Senate, which I have just described, you will find this in all the bills. They don't get better, they get worse. None of them will strengthen our healthcare system or improve people's lives.

One of my Republican colleagues really put it in a few words very directly and said recently: I didn't come to Washington to hurt people.

I trust that none of us--not a single Republican or Democrat--came for that purpose. We want to help people, don't we? Isn't that why we are here? That is why we need to reject this approach. It is why we need to sit down together and make our healthcare system better.

I voted for the Affordable Care Act. I believe in it. It cut the number of uninsured people in my State in half, and I think that is a worthy goal. It made many other changes which I have described here this evening.

Is it perfect? By no means. I used this example before: The only perfect law that I know of was carried down the side of a mountain on clay tablets by Senator Moses. Everybody else does their best, and sometimes we need a little help. Our current healthcare system needs some help.

Let me tell you where I think we ought to change it. No. 1, we know that the one market where the premiums are going through the roof is the individual marketplace, where small business people and others are facing skyrocketing premiums. What percentage of America fits into that group? Six percent. They are not being treated fairly under the current system. We have to change it. We have to make healthcare premiums affordable. Every Republican plan brought before us raises those premium costs.

No. 2, we don't address the costs of prescription drugs in the Affordable Care Act. Health insurance companies tell us that is driving premium costs more than any single item. Blue Cross Blue Shield in Illinois pays more for pharmaceuticals--prescription drugs--each year than they pay for inpatient hospital care. There is nothing that is controlling these costs. We should; shouldn't we?

Shouldn't we agree that, if you happen to live in some part of the country where you don't have health insurance available in the marketplace, at a very minimum you will have a public option? What do I mean by that? A plan that looks like Medicare, a plan that isn't driven by profit, but a plan that provides the basic services. We can do that. We have Medicare Advantage programs. We have other options. We want to make sure that is available to every American. You choose it, if you wish.

Those three things right off the top I would include as part of what we can do on a bipartisan basis--Democrats and Republicans. Take the tax cut off the table. Take slashing Medicaid off the table. Take rewards to health insurance companies off the table. Focus on helping the families, businesses, and individuals in America who need this basic protection.

We are going to go into this mystery vote tomorrow. We have been elected

to the U.S. Senate. There aren't many people in history who have had this honor. What we are doing tomorrow does not bring honor to the Senate.

Considering a bill that has not been written, published, and disclosed to the American people is just wrong. Considering a bill that has never had a committee hearing is unfair. Considering a bill that I am sure will have many flaws and weaknesses is reckless.

That is what we face this week. How important is it? It may be the most important vote we cast this year as far as I am concerned. There is nothing more important in life than the peace of mind in knowing you have health insurance at that critical moment when you or somebody in your family desperately needs help.

There is not going to be a minor amendment offered on the floor that will straighten out the situation.

I know my colleagues are here to speak. I will close by saying this. If you come to watch this bill, whatever it is, brought before the Senate in the next few days, it will not be a moment when you think better of this place. It is a process called vote-arama. Here is what it means. You put an amendment on the floor and file it with the clerk. They read the amendment. Then you have 2 minutes--1 minute for and 1 minute against--and you vote.

Really? We are going to take the healthcare system of America and put it through that kind of a process, where we don't even have time to sit and measure the impact of one amendment over the other? The Congressional Budget Office will not have its analysis. So it is really going to be a free skate. We will be up here trying our best to vote yes or no on these amendments if we proceed to the bill.

Here is the good news. If 3 Republicans--3 out of 52--will step up and say: Stop, we can do better as a Senate, that will be the end of this terrible endeavor. We will send the measure back to committee. We will have Democrats and Republicans sit down. They will go through the regular process. They will produce a bill. The public will get to read it. They will go through expert testimony. Then we will have an amendment process. Then they will bring it to the floor, and we will do the same. We will consider it carefully. We will use our best judgment and try to come up with something on a bipartisan basis that is a credit to America.

Instead, what we are going to face, if the majority leader has his way tomorrow, is a process that does not serve this country well and does not bring honor to the Senate.

I urge my Republican colleagues, three of them at least, to step up. They aren't just saving a lot of people across America from the worry of whether they have good health insurance when they desperately need it. They are saving the reputation of the Senate.

I yield the floor.