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Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, today, marks the 60th anniversary of the day that President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Social Security Amendments of 1965, establishing Medicare and Medicaid--cornerstones of American healthcare. These programs provide millions, including 1.5 million people in Connecticut, with access to comprehensive and affordable healthcare.

Nothing is more important than our health. As the saying goes, if you don't have your health, you don't have anything; and if you don't have healthcare coverage, which for most Americans guarantees treatment, diagnoses, effective healthcare, you don't have your health.

I am here--I wish I could say--to celebrate these vital programs, but, really, I am here to defend them, to defend them against deep and damaging cuts made by Senate Republicans and the Trump administration. Their budget decimates Medicaid benefits. It threatens rural and pediatric hospitals. It increases health insurance premiums for the majority of Americans. Let me repeat: It increases premiums paid by everyday Americans--the majority of our fellow citizens.

Health insurers are already proposing a median premium increase of 15 percent in 2026. That will be the largest in 5 years, and that is just an estimate. You know, if you have had any experience with health insurers, that if they are estimating 15 percent, it could well, in fact, likely be higher. These cuts are not about eliminating fraud or waste in the Federal government; they are about delivering tax breaks to billionaires on the backs of working Americans.

This bill is an absolute disgrace. The American people should hold every Member who voted for it accountable when they are next up for election.

It is the biggest Medicaid cut in our history. Over 900,000 people in Connecticut rely on Medicaid for their health insurance coverage; 30 percent of them are children.

In fact, in Connecticut, Medicaid covers 41 percent of births and 68 percent of people living in nursing homes. The majority of people in nursing homes, in other words, depend on Medicaid, and they could well be thrown out of those nursing homes.

Under this bill, up to 158,000 people in Connecticut will lose Medicaid, and 53,000 will lose their ACA coverage. Even those who keep their health coverage will see reduced benefits and strained providers as the State struggles to make up the difference. People in Connecticut are lucky because there will be an effort to make up the difference, but many other States won't have that ability.

Just to be clear, these cuts are going to have an impact on everyone because the Medicaid Program is a huge source of funding for all hospitals. All hospitals depend on Medicaid. Even if you are not there with Medicaid coverage, the quality of care that you will receive will suffer as a result of these cuts. So even if you have private health insurance, your nearest hospital could close. You may have to wait longer for an appointment to see a doctor. Your out-of-pocket costs may increase. Hospitals will attempt to recoup that lost funding on your back. They have no choice. They have to stay open, and they have to cover their costs.

To make matters worse, my Republican colleagues refuse to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits. And 112,000 people in Connecticut rely on these credits to lower their monthly premiums. They are a lifesaver. They are a lifeline to health insurance coverage.

Without the extension, 10,000 children are at risk of losing essential services, and 81 small business owners in the State will see their premiums skyrocket. Premiums will rise for small businesses as well as individuals.

These numbers are staggering. They are stunning. But they fail to capture the human costs, the impact on everyday people who look out the window in the morning as they have their first cup of coffee or see their children at night for dinner as they come home and wonder what will happen in the event of a healthcare emergency--not even an emergency. What will happen in the event of the flu, COVID, or any of the other kinds of healthcare challenges that may arise?

So the net result here in human terms is couples forgoing children, grandparents losing independence, people seeing preventable deaths, skipped checkups, burned out healthcare workers. That is the real cost, the human cost, the impact on people's state of mind, their level of anxiety, their ability to focus on work because of physical pain they may have because of illness but also anxiety about how that illness is going to be covered by health insurance.

These cuts aren't just numbers. They are children, they are families, they are grandparents, people with disabilities, your neighbors, your friends, and probably you at some point.

Republicans knew the consequences. There was no mystery here. They knew the data. They chose cruelty. These cuts are cruel, and they are stupid. They are dumb because we all know that preventing health emergencies, providing diagnoses, catching illnesses early, and providing care and treatment early, in the long run, saves money for all of us.

It is unforgivable that they decided to turn their backs on millions of Americans, including their own constituents whose health and well- being is on the line.

Since this bill passed, of course, some Republicans are trying to walk back their vote--buyer's remorse. They had mixed feelings at the time, perhaps. They are supporting tweets like repealing the Medicaid provider taxes or boosting rural hospital funds because they see that those rural hospitals in their own States are going to be closing. They know the impact of Medicaid cuts on hospitals in all areas and people in every part of their States.

But those efforts are doomed to failure. They fall short. The rural healthcare fund doesn't come close to offsetting the losses rural providers will face from the cuts of Medicaid, just to give you one example. That is why I have joined Senator Wyden and Senator Schumer in introducing a bill that will repeal the health provisions in the ``Big Blatant Betrayal.'' It is not a Big Beautiful Bill; it is a ``Big Blatant Betrayal.'' This measure would extend the ACA premium tax credits.

Again, Medicaid cuts are reprehensible and reckless. Cutting the ACA premium tax credits affects hundreds of thousands of people in Connecticut and millions around the country, everyday middle-class and working Americans who have to cover healthcare bills.

I am going to keep fighting against any legislative efforts that put the interests and desires of billionaires over the needs of working and middle-class Americans.

This ``Big Blatant Betrayal'' is, in fact, simply cruel and stupid, and I hope my Republicans colleagues will join us in these efforts to truly walk back and compensate for the disastrous impact, the devastating affect it will have on families and working people all across this great country.

I am honored to yield to our distinguished leader.

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