[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 1, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2533-S2534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HEALTHCARE
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on another matter, while the Senate may
be writing a new chapter of bipartisan productivity, the same cannot be
said for the House under Democratic leadership. On this side of the
Capitol, we have passed timely legislation to address real, urgent
policy priorities. S. 1, for example, helps fight back against anti-
Semitism and attends to several other pressing matters with respect to
American foreign policy in the Middle East.
The Senate debated the bill and passed it by a wide bipartisan
majority. We sent it over to the House, and now it is just sitting
there, gathering dust. It is gathering dust because Democratic
leadership is more interested in making flashy political points and
picking fights with the President than in making meaningful bipartisan
progress.
House Democrats are uninterested in our important foreign policy
legislation. What has captured their energy and attention instead? This
week they are giving prime billing to a scheme
[[Page S2534]]
that would snatch away the private health insurance plans that more
than 180 million Americans rely on and jeopardize the Medicare coverage
counted on by tens of millions more. That is what they are up to this
week.
The House Rules Committee, and by extension the Democratic
leadership, have officially granted a platform to this proposal, which
could best be described as Medicare for None. That is not just some
cute phrase. It is literally what the plan would usher in--an end to
the Medicare Program as American seniors have known it for generations.
Democrats want to take the program that seniors have paid into, which
we ought to be shoring up and stabilizing, and, instead, pile every
other American into it--one size fits all. That is what it is: End
Medicare as we know it; reuse its name for a new sort of built-from-
scratch, government-administered plan, and make sure the resulting
Washington nightmare is the only game in town by outlawing choice and
competition from the private sector. That is what they want to do.
To the 60 million seniors on Medicare, most of whom like things the
way they are, Democrats say: Too bad. To the 180 million-plus other
Americans who rely on private health coverage from their employers,
many of whom like their own plans, our Democratic colleagues say: Too
bad. All of these things that American families count on, I guess my
Democratic colleagues want to wipe them all away in favor of this
untested government takeover--completely untested.
In Congresses past, this kind of far-left proposal would have been
unlikely to even receive a hearing. Democrats would have taken one look
at this socialist steamroller and run away from it like the plague.
Jeopardize current health coverage for nearly all Americans--one way or
another--for the sake of leftwing ideology? Who would go for that?
Needless to say, times seem to have changed. Now, across the aisle,
this level of radical intrusion is the proud rallying cry both here in
Congress, and, of course, out on the Presidential campaign trail. One
of the major ironies is that Medicare is not even safely on autopilot
as things stand right now, let alone herding every other American into
the system. As I have noted, the Administrator of CMS herself recently
explained that ``the program's main trust fund for hospital services
can only pay full benefits for seven more years.'' That is the Medicare
we have now.
Instead of a serious plan to shore up Medicare or address costs for
middle-class families, Democrats are focused on raising taxes
massively, trading consumer choice for Washington control, and
destabilizing the current system in the process.
Senate Republicans will stay focused on middle-class families'
priorities. We will leave the destructive daydreams to our friends
across the aisle.
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