Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor today to ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the Senate Resolution that is at the desk, expressing the sense of the Senate that efforts to create a one-size-fits-all government-run healthcare system referred to as "Medicare for All'' should be rejected.

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Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I would just point out that what my friend and colleague from Hawaii described as a distraction is one of the key points of the Democratic Party.

Medicare for All, as they call it, is part of the so-called Green New Deal, which would bankrupt the country, which is unaffordable, unworkable. The fact is, this Medicare for All proposal, which so many of the Democrats have signed on to, would cost a minimum of $33 trillion and maybe a lot higher after what we have heard from the Presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, as to the things he wants to do going beyond just Medicare for All.

We know that taxes would increase significantly under their proposal. We know that for Americans who have health insurance right now through their work, over 150 million Americans would lose that. We know that for people on Medicare, it would make their ability to use Medicare much harder. Then, of course, there would be the issue of rationing for care--the lines and the time to wait.

There was an article in the New York Times, an opinion piece by David Brooks, on Friday, talking about why the so-called Medicare for All will not work, and it made reference to healthcare in Canada.

I would say to the Presiding Officer that as a Senator who is also a surgeon, I operated on people from Canada in my practice prior to becoming a U.S. Senator and while practicing in Wyoming. People in Canada--where the healthcare is paid for by taxes but is free--I have taken care of people who couldn't afford to wait the amount of time it would take to get their free operation.

The article in the New York Times on Friday made reference to the fact that the waiting times are so long that after you are actually seen by the primary care provider in Canada, the wait time to get to see an orthopedic surgeon is 9 months--9 months. The Democrats are proposing something that has given the people of Canada a waiting time of 9 months.

So what we see under this Medicare for All proposal--and I have just introduced today this Senate resolution saying that Medicare for All should be rejected, and there should also be a rejection of the tax increases, the loss of choice, and the long lines that will come from this Democrat-sponsored proposal for Medicare for All.

Thank you.

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