'How Many Closed Hospitals Will The Republicans Accept?': Dick Durbin Slams GOP Budget's Healthcare Cuts

Forbes Breaking News

During remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke about cuts to healthcare in the Republican budget.

Transcript

00:00consent the quorum call be suspended. Without objection. So a lot of people asking the question

00:05Mr. President what exactly were people voting for in the last presidential election? Well many

00:11things. We have many citizens who are voters in this country but the recurring theme seems to be

00:17the cost of living for the average family. The ability of mothers and fathers to make ends meet

00:24and to see a realization of their dreams and aspirations. But we were told over and over

00:31again that families across this country were being overwhelmed by the cost of living.

00:36Gas, groceries, housing. And so they gave a majority of the votes to President Trump

00:42who promised he would make America great again. Since taking office I don't believe that the

00:49President has come near to keeping his promise. Instead he has hired many of his billionaire

00:55buddies and cut deals with the ultra-wealthy that will harm the same Americans who voted for him.

01:01I'm not going to get into his cryptocurrency schemes and how it's enriched him and his family.

01:07Let's set that aside for a minute and talk about issues that apply to every person. Hidden in more

01:13than a thousand pages in the bill that passed the House of Representatives is a plan, a laundry list

01:20of things that I don't believe the Americans even considered voting for in the last November election.

01:26They're going to have a devastating impact on families and states red and blue alike.

01:31The main takeaway from this is the one big ugly bill. Billionaires are going to win and American families

01:38are going to lose. Do you think the voters in last November's election for President of the United

01:45States would actually vote to close down their local hospital? That's what's looming.

01:52You say, oh you Democrats and your scare tactics. That can't possibly be true. Well let me tell you

01:58what happened, Mr. President. Three weeks ago, 20 hospital administrators from across the state of

02:04Illinois, from Chicago down to the southernmost part of our state, all took a special trip to Washington

02:09to warn me that the bill that was pending before the House of Representatives threatened the survival

02:15of hospitals across our state. These are hospitals which are not only critical for providing professional

02:22medical care, delivering babies, saving people's lives who are in automobile accidents, but also major

02:30parts of the local economy. You come to rural, small town, Midwest America and ask the impact of the local

02:38hospital and they'll tell you, we don't know that we could keep a business or attract a business if we

02:43didn't have it. We count on it every day to be there when we need it. And secondly, it's a major employer.

02:50In fact, in most towns, the biggest employer in downstate. And then they warn me, many of these hospitals

02:56are hanging on by a thread. The money that they receive from government insurance programs like

03:02Medicaid keeps the doors open and the lights on and the doctors in town. And now we have a proposal from

03:09the Republicans to cut that Medicaid benefit for 16 million Americans. This would be the largest cutback

03:19in health insurance protection in the history of the United States. That's what's been sent over by the

03:25House of Representatives and is presently under consideration by the Republican leadership

03:29here in the Senate. Nationwide, half of all rural hospitals already operate in the red. And more than

03:37300 rural hospitals are at immediate risk of closure. 26 in Kansas, 22 in Alabama, 9 in Missouri.

03:48How many closed hospitals will the Republicans accept as part of their plan? Let me tell you,

03:57I'm from downstate Illinois. Proud to represent the city of Chicago all these years, but prouder

04:03still of being from downstate and trying to keep track of all the needs that they have for this economy

04:10to prosper. I know rural hospitals are the backbone of many communities in downstate Illinois. Critical

04:17emergency medical care anchors of the local economy. Now you dig into this deep deeply into this Republican budget bill

04:26that's come over from the House of Representatives. And it turns out they are not just

04:31eliminating health insurance coverage for 16 million Americans. They are also cutting Medicare. Now Medicare

04:40is a program primarily for elderly people in this country.

04:43It has been a miracle worker. Medicare was created in the 1960s. And it's no coincidence or surprise

04:52that the life expectancy of Americans went up as Medicare took root and became part of health care in America.

05:00Despite promising to leave Medicare alone, which everyone has said from Donald Trump on down,

05:06Republicans couldn't help themselves. They slashed Medicare benefits and reduced access to hospitals,

05:12nursing homes, and medications for seniors in all 50 states. Medicaid and Medicare.

05:19So why would Republicans in Congress take a wrecking ball to these two major parts of our health care

05:25system? To provide money for tax breaks to the wealthiest people in America. I'll bet you think

05:32he's making that up. I'll bet you it's another one of those political schemes of his. It's not being made up. It's true.

05:38They want to generate enough money to give tax breaks to wealthy people. Based on a new update from the

05:44Congressional Budget Office today, up to 16 million Americans are now estimated to lose their health

05:51insurance coverage under this Republican plan that passed the House and is now being considered by the

05:57Senate Republicans. I can just tell you this from a personal basis. There is no more helpless feeling in

06:04the world than to be a father with no health insurance and being told that your beautiful baby

06:12has a serious medical complication. I know I've been there. Some Republicans are downplaying these

06:18catastrophic health cuts. On the Senate floor earlier today, a Republican Senator said that people on

06:24Medicaid are lazy and play video games all day. At a recent town hall meeting when a concerned

06:30constituent raised the Republican proposal, Medicaid cuts, and said that people would die, there became

06:37a great controversy the response of the Senator to that comment. It sounds like Republicans in Congress

06:44want to be the ones deciding who is worthy of health care in America. But Americans who depend on Medicaid

06:51are not strangers. They're your neighbors. They're people at your church, your school, and at your work.

06:57It probably is your family too. If you or a loved one get sick, will congressional Republicans deem you

07:03deserving of seeing a doctor? Is that what this debate was all about? Is that what this election was all about?

07:11Did the American people vote for tax cuts for billionaires? I don't think so. A party like the

07:17Republicans who claim they're the party of the working class, working class billionaires, they refuse to put

07:24their money where their mouth is. Republicans in Congress may say they're just trying to lower your

07:29taxes, but most of the benefit is going to wealthy people who won't even notice it. Maybe their bookkeepers

07:35and accountants will give them the good news that they just saved another $200,000, $300,000 in taxes.

07:42Under the Republican plan, taxpayers and the wealthiest, 0.1%, would get a $300,000 tax cut every year.

07:52$300,000 for the richest of the richest in America. Why? At the expense of health care for 16 million

08:00Americans? It makes no sense. The average full-time worker making a minimum wage on average would receive

08:08a tax break as well. I've got to be honest about it. It's $20 a month. $300,000 for the richest of the rich,

08:16$20 a month for the working stiff. How can that possibly be fair?

08:25Do the American people vote to slash jobs across the economy in the last November election? I don't

08:31think so. Since we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, 85% of investment in clean energy technology has

08:39landed in Republican districts. Now, I know the President of the United States calls global warming

08:45and environmental issues a hoax. He's been hanging with that story for a long time, even though we

08:52know something is happening. Notice the extreme weather events across the United States and around

08:57the world. They're getting more frequent and more costly. Is it a coincidence or is something going on?

09:03I happen to believe something's going on. In just two years since passing the Inflation Reduction Act,

09:09businesses have announced 340 new clean technology projects. One estimate says that these projects

09:16will create 150,000 permanent jobs. I've seen it in my state. That includes more than 9,000 jobs in Texas,

09:254,800 in Ohio, 4,500 in Indiana, and 2,700 in my home state of Illinois. The Republicans'

09:32big, ugly bill puts these jobs at risk, taking a hatchet to tax policy that make these projects

09:40possible. The promise of a Republican repeal has already scared the private sector into withdrawing

09:46$14 billion in investment and canceling 10,000 clean energy manufacturing jobs. Why would the so-called

09:55party of the working class want to give their own constituents a pink slip? I don't get it.

10:00Now, some of my Republican colleagues have been brave enough to raise alarms about the Medicaid

10:05cuts, roll back clean energy credits, and the cost of the bill. You know what the cost of this bill is?

10:11To give tax breaks to the wealthiest people? $3.8 trillion more on the deficit over the next decade.

10:19We already know the scammer in chief will try to bully Republicans into choosing billionaires over

10:25working families, using anything he can to persuade them or threaten them. My Republican colleagues must

10:31know that this plan does not make America great again. It makes our debt the greatest in the history

10:37of our nation. But instead, it harms families in red and blue states looking for a fair shot. Their lip service

10:46to these terrible cuts is not enough. I urge a handful of my Republican colleagues, and that's all it takes,

10:53show some courage, show some common sense. Tell the folks in the House and tell the White House as well.

11:00This approach is not going to work. Taking health insurance away from 16 million Americans,

11:06more than has ever happened in the history of this country, is unfair, fundamentally unfair, and we all know

11:11it. We know it intuitively. That's just not fair. Taking Medicaid away from reimbursing hospitals and

11:18doctors with critical care in small towns and rural areas is a mistake that we'll pay for for generations

11:25to come. I urge my Republicans to listen to their constituents, because I know that Americans who voted

11:31for Trump in November did not vote for what I've just described today on the floor of the Senate. We need

11:37four Republicans, four, to stand up and say, this doesn't make sense. Too much debt, too much pain

11:44for families, too much of a gamble for rural areas in small-town America. We've got to stand up and make

11:50a much better effort, and we should do it on a bipartisan basis as quickly as possible. Mr. President,

11:56I yield the floor.

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