'This Comes With A Cost': Jim Himes Highlights Teen Who Would Be Harmed By Cuts To Medicaid

In remarks on the House floor before the Congressional recess, Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) spoke about cuts to Medicaid.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In this chamber, as early as today, we may be passing legislation that is

00:11explicitly designed to maintain historically low tax rates on the nation's wealthiest people. The

00:20richest people in America will be served by this institution so that they can pay the lowest tax

00:28amounts possible. The corporations in this country must have their record low tax rates maintained.

00:36The problem is this comes with a cost, and that cost will be paid, as the Republicans have laid

00:42it out for us to see, by the Medicaid program and by the additions of trillions of dollars to the

00:49United States debt. Let's talk for a second about Medicaid because it serves about 80 million

00:56Americans. Not all Americans have experience with it, but an awful lot do. We're told, and the fantasy

01:03is, that the money can be saved by identifying waste, fraud, and abuse. Now, make no mistake, that's a

01:09fantasy. If you're rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, you hire more people, investigators, auditors,

01:17to go after it. We're doing the exact opposite. Elon Musk and Doge are hiring, are firing the people who go

01:26after waste, fraud, and abuse. It turns out that people don't wear signs around their neck saying,

01:31I'm committing waste, fraud, and abuse. No, it's hard to identify this. It exists, but it does not

01:37exist in any conceivable number that the Republicans are talking about cutting out of the Medicaid

01:45program. That number is almost a hundred billion dollars a year. A hundred billion dollars out of

01:51roughly six hundred billion dollars in spending. Now, mind you, that's not trimming. That's taking

01:56a wheel off the car. And here's what's going to happen. As I said, Medicaid covers 80 million Americans

02:05with health insurance. It also provides the funding that allows grandma to stay in an assisted living

02:12facility after she's run out of assets. But what I really want to do is I want to tell you about

02:19Connor Curran. Connor's a 14-year-old from the town of Ridgefield, which I have the honor of

02:24representing. His mom's a teacher. His dad works for a local municipality. These are wonderful middle

02:31class folks, just like anyone else in this country. The problem is that 10 years ago, when he was four

02:37years old, Connor was diagnosed with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. Duchenne's muscular dystrophy is a

02:44terrible, terrible disease. Your muscles waste away, including your heart and your lung muscles.

02:51And as a consequence, people who have this terrible diagnosis tend to live between 20 and 30 years.

02:58Connor's 14. Now, lately, because of breakthrough research, some people diagnosed with Duchenne muscular

03:06dystrophy are living into their 40s and 50s. So you might imagine what the Curran family felt when

03:13those research programs were devastated by Elon Musk and Doge. Imagine that.

03:18But the real threat to Connor is what's going to happen in this chamber this week as they find a

03:27way to slash Medicaid. Connor's medicines, the medicines that have kept him alive, cost thousands

03:35of dollars a month. Middle class family can't pay that. Medicaid does. His lung function is compromised.

03:42So he needs a $12,000 machine to breathe. He needs help in school. He wants to go to college, but he

03:51needs a little help because he's severely handicapped by this terrible disease. Connor comes to my office

03:57almost every year to tell me about his aspirations and to beg that we keep funding not just the research

04:04that may provide him with a normal lifespan, but those things that give him a reasonable quality of life,

04:10a shot of achieving that dream of going to college. So my colleagues, you're not voting on numbers this

04:17week. Yeah, there's billions involved, and you're certainly not voting on waste fraud or abuse. Let's

04:22leave that fantasy behind. You're voting this week on what kind of future, if any, Connor can expect,

04:32and what kind of future, if any, 70 million, 80 million Americans who rely on Medicaid will have.

04:41Take seriously the pain that is about to be caused to some of the most vulnerable Americans out there

04:47as you think about your vote, as you think about what you're trying to achieve, as you think about

04:52what you aspire this country to be. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield back.