00:00Mr. President, I don't believe you can serve in the United States Senate
00:07without being at least an amateur student of history. You're overwhelmed in
00:13this chamber, which is where the Senate has met since 1859, to reflect on all of
00:19the things that have occurred in the past, and you remember your own
00:23experience there as well. I certainly do. This is my 29th year of service in the
00:28Senate, and I think back this evening of some of the things which I've witnessed
00:33and still stick with me. I can still see that door open and Ted Kennedy walk
00:40through it, summoned from his deathbed in Massachusetts to cast a deciding vote on
00:45the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare. He wouldn't miss it, even if it meant he was
00:51going to die in the process. I think of that door over there when President Trump
00:57in his first term tried to basically eliminate the Affordable Care Act, and it
01:02was saved at the last minute at 2 o'clock in the morning when John McCain came
01:07through those doors, stood in the well right by that table to the Republican
01:11side, and cast his vote no. He couldn't raise his arm. It had been damaged so badly
01:17when he served as a prisoner of war during Vietnam, but you knew how decisive his
01:23gesture was, and he saved health care for millions of Americans. There were other
01:28moments as well that I can reflect on, but the point I'd like to get to is this.
01:33There was a speech a few minutes ago on the floor of the United States Senate,
01:37which every senator should have heard, particularly every Republican senator.
01:43The senator from North Carolina gave a speech. Senator Tillis had explained why he
01:48decided to vote against this Republican budget plan, this reconciliation bill. He
01:56explained it in a thoughtful and comprehensive and convincing way. But
02:02before he made his decision, he turned to Republicans in the state and Democrats
02:07and a neutral third party to analyze the bill. And he concluded, Mr. President, after
02:14that study, that careful study, that this measure, this changes in Medicaid and
02:20Medicare and other health programs would be a disaster for the state of North
02:25Carolina. He'd made it clear before tonight that he was going to vote against
02:29this bill, and he made it clear this morning that he's preparing to retire from
02:34the Senate. I felt his statement was compelling, and I'm sorry there weren't other
02:41members on the Republican side, at least one, beyond the presiding officer present to
02:47hear it. It's seldom that you hear a speech on the floor of the Senate that you
02:51know is so personal and so heartfelt and so meaningful as the statement made by
02:57Senator Tillis earlier. He made a decision which will be widely reported, I'm sure, and
03:07showed a level of political courage which you seldom see in this chamber. He
03:12basically said, in a positive way, that the president was wrong in believing that
03:17this wouldn't hurt ordinary people. This Republican measure, which is before us
03:22tonight, tomorrow, is going to hurt a lot of people. We estimate that 16 million
03:29American families will lose their health insurance as a result of this measure that's on the floor
03:34today. I've said it before, but I want to repeat it. If you have ever been the
03:40father of a new baby with a serious medical problem and you have no health
03:47insurance, you'll never forget that moment as long as you live. I know I've been
03:53there. I went to the charity ward of Children's Hospital here as a student at
03:57Georgetown Law School with my wife and baby, and we waited in line to see who, which
04:02doctor would walk through the door and see my baby and save her life. You feel that
04:09you've let everybody down in the world at that point, that you don't have health
04:12insurance when you need it so badly. It means so much to you. This bill is
04:17designed to take health insurance away from 11 million families in America.
04:22Eleven million families in America in a period of time will not have the peace of
04:27mind that they have access to the best care because they will lose lost their
04:32health insurance. What is it about Donald Trump taking away coverage of
04:37health care? Why is this become the trademark of the Donald Trump Republican
04:43Party? He did it in his first term or tried to and John McCain stopped him and now
04:47he's trying to do it again. The question is whether Senator Tillis and his
04:53Republican colleagues can muster enough courage to step up and find four
04:58Republican senators who will say no. No, I'm not going there. I don't want it on my
05:06conscience or my record that I took health insurance away from so many
05:09American people. Now you may argue Durbin you're a Democrat and I am and your
05:17arguments have to be tempered because you're so partisan, so political. Surely
05:24it isn't as bad as you just said it was. Well let me read something to you. It's
05:28from a group called the American Cancer Society. I'm sure you've heard of them.
05:33This is their Cancer Action Network and it's a letter to the Senate from Lisa
05:40Lacoste, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. And here's
05:46what she says about the measure that's pending before us now that we're being
05:50asked to vote on from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
05:55Quote, history will be made with this vote. Congress has one last chance to stop
06:01this unprecedented attack on access to health care for millions of Americans,
06:06including cancer patients and survivors. Congress can say no to terminating health
06:13coverage for nearly 11 million people who will have no other affordable option
06:18available to them if this bill passes. Currently one in ten people with a history
06:23of cancer have Medicaid coverage, including one in three kids who are newly
06:27diagnosed with cancer. We know having quality health coverage is one of the
06:32most significant factors in whether someone survives a cancer diagnosis. Voting for
06:38this bill means voting to rip the chance of survival away from real people. She goes
06:43on to say, simply put, this bill will mean more Americans are living sicker and dying sooner.
06:50And then she said, lives are on the line. So if you're skeptical about anything that
06:55I say because of my partisan background, I understand it. But for goodness sakes, from
07:00the American Cancer Society to have such a definitive statement made that this measure that we're
07:06being asked to vote on is going to harm innocent people, men, women, and children. That's a fact.
07:14And Mr. President, I might add another short message that we received from the Children's Hospital Association.
07:22The Children's Hospital Association. Matthew Cook is their president and CEO. And here's what he says about this bill that is pending.
07:31The new version of the budget reconciliation bill is a crisis for children's health care, hospitals, and providers nationwide.
07:39And we ask Congress to oppose it as an act of support for American children. This bill goes much too far.
07:46The bill amounts to fewer doctors and nurses to see your child, longer wait times, and sicker children.
07:52We know that the impacts of poor pediatric health care reverberate for a lifetime from the Children's Hospital Association.
08:01Neither of these organizations are partisan organizations. And they have confirmed what Senator Tellis said earlier on behalf of the state of North Carolina and what those of us on this side of the aisle are saying all along.
08:13Why would we risk the lives and well-being of so many children, so many American families? What is it about the trillion dollars which we will take out of the health care system in America that is so pressing, so demanding that we're willing to make these big risks?
08:30I'll tell you what it is. It is the extension of tax breaks, tax breaks for the wealthiest people.
08:37Oh, Durbin, you Democrats always talk about billionaires and millionaires. That can't be true.
08:43Senator Angus King is here. He told me that he did an analysis of the actual tax breaks.
08:50And if I remember correctly, if you do a cutoff of income of $400,000 a year and said anyone over that figure is not going to receive any tax break, you would reduce the cost of this tax program by 60% or more.
09:0860% or more. So when we talk about tax breaks for the wealthiest people in America, that's exactly what this is about.
09:15I want to give tax breaks if I can to working families who struggle from paycheck to paycheck. But for goodness sakes, a $346,000 tax cut for Elon Musk, the richest man on earth. What are we thinking?
09:32And I just want to make a quick reference to two states that have an experience coming with this bill, which will be dramatic.
09:43One is Kansas. In Kansas, 360,000 individuals rely on Medicaid coverage. 56% of them are children.
09:53But with this bill, 89,000 people in Kansas are going to lose their health insurance.
10:00Kansas Medicaid covers one third of births, 58% of nursing home residents. What happens when Medicaid does not pay for enough money into the nursing home to keep your mother under good care or your father or someone in your family?
10:15What do you do next? Well, you exhaust the savings that are available to your family. And if that isn't enough, what's next?
10:23I don't know. But when I grew up as a kid, there was a spare bedroom in my grandparents' home for brothers and sisters who had no place else to go.
10:32I suppose that's going to happen to some families. Already 28 rural hospitals in Kansas are at immediate risk of closure.
10:41To think that this measure would have no impact on those families and those communities is just plain wrong.
10:47In the adjoining state of Missouri, which I grew up across the river in Mississippi River, grew up in Illinois, but I grew up across the river from St. Louis, Missouri, 1.2 million individuals rely on Medicaid coverage.
11:0150% are children. With this bill, 250,000 people in Missouri are projected to lose their health insurance. Medicaid covers 40% of births in Missouri, 65% in nursing homes.
11:16Already 10 rural hospitals in Missouri are at immediate risk of closure.
11:20Mr. President, you know as well as I do what happens in small-town America, rural America, when they close the hospital.
11:27It is devastating. Not just because you don't have access to quality health care, but because you just lost a major economic engine for that community.
11:36Try to attract a new business to that town after the hospital closes, and watch what you run into. It is that devastating.
11:43And that is the reality of this approach. And why are we doing it? What is the national emergency that calls on us to make this change?
11:50Tax breaks for the wealthiest people in America. That is what's motivating the Republicans now.
11:56I want to close and just say thank you to Senator Tillis. He's shown extraordinary courage.
12:03The question is whether others will join him. Whether four Republican senators will step up and say,
12:09Enough. I've heard enough. I've seen enough. I believe this is wrong.
12:14There are ways we can help people who need a tax break rather than the wealthiest people that won't damage so many families,
12:2111 million, 16 million, whatever the number turns out to be, who lose health insurance.
12:27I hope that we come to our senses and do it soon. I hope that what Senator Tillis said on the floor will inspire members of his own caucus to listen carefully,
12:36to know that he speaks the truth, and he has taken great political risk to say it. I yield the floor.
