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Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am honored to follow my colleague from Connecticut and to build on some of the arguments that he has made so well. We are here because our democracy is in crisis. It is not some potential catastrophe on the horizon that is distant or hypothetical. It is real. It is now because of the lawlessness and recklessness of this administration.

And it is the result of a contempt for the law, for legal norms that, seemingly, is boundless. We have seen it in the Jimmy Kimmel episode where the FCC Chair said, in mobster-like language: They can do it the hard way or the easy way.

``You have a nice restaurant there. It would be a shame if anything happened to it.'' I prosecuted mob cases. That is the kind of language we see from organized crime.

And it was shown in the indictment of James Comey, a document signed only by the U.S. attorney, not by any career official, and after only 14 members of the 23 people on that Grand Jury voted to do it on two of the counts, rejecting a third.

All of this kind of procedure is so highly extraordinary. As a former prosecutor, it would be an embarrassment. But this administration is beyond shame when it comes to lawlessness.

And we have seen it in immigration, in healthcare, in education, in the VA, where countless people have been illegally fired, some of them hired back.

And that is why we are insisting that there be a guarantee that the President will follow the law when we pass a budget. It is not a hypothetical danger that he will disobey it. In fact, he has ordered rescissions, impoundments, clawbacks. If we pass a law, we have to be sure the President will follow it. Otherwise, there really isn't any point to this branch of government.

And so I say to my Republican colleagues, as a matter of your self- respect, as a matter of protecting this institution, you should agree with us that there must be a guarantee that the rule of law will prevail.

And I say to my constituents in Connecticut: We are going to stand up for you to save your healthcare because you can't wait to get sick. You don't choose to get sick on November 22 or January 3 when it is convenient for Donald Trump and the Republican majority.

You need to know, when there is open enrollment on November 1, whether or not your insurance will be affordable for you. You need to know whether those subsidies will make it affordable for you because otherwise you won't be able to buy insurance through the ACA. In fact, 90 percent of all people in Connecticut who buy insurance through the ACA marketplace receive some kind of subsidy, and their insurance premiums will skyrocket by 75 percent if that subsidy is ended. They need to know now, when open enrollment starts, whether those subsidies will be there for them.

And it will affect insurance premiums for everyone if we fail to extend those subsidies as part of this continuing resolution now. Why? Because healthier people who see their insurance premiums rise by 20 percent--right now, they are projected to rise at least 18 percent for everyone because that is the cost of this failure to extend the subsidies. The healthier people are going to say: I am not bothering. I won't need it.

The sicker people may try to buy it, and the insurance companies will have to cover illnesses, more of them, with fewer premiums, and they will have to charge more to everyone to cover it.

So this failure to do the right thing has impacts for everyone who seeks healthcare and tries to buy insurance to pay for it.

The Republican proposal is an abject failure when it comes to ensuring that the American people don't pay more for healthcare. And I heard from constituents just over this past weekend as I went to the Durham Fair, as I went to the mum parade in Bristol, as I went to Norwalk and Stamford and Milford, all around the State, people asking me: What will happen to my health insurance? What will happen to my healthcare?

Nothing is more important than health, and we are saving healthcare for the American people by insisting that this extension of government funding include a reversal of the cruel and stupid ``Big Blatant Betrayal''--it is not a Big Beautiful Bill, the ``Big Blatant Betrayal'' that failed to extend those healthcare subsidies--and insist that whatever bill that is passed be obeyed by the President.

The ACA premium tax credits have protected millions of Americans from those higher healthcare costs, and they have reduced the numbers of Americans without health insurance coverage. They have provided robust choices for consumers and provided stability for healthcare providers, especially in rural areas.

And I have heard from those providers who are as worried as their patients about what will happen to this program.

What the Republicans are doing is cruel. It is unnecessary. There is a straightforward, simple solution. It should not be a partisan issue. Republicans know we have to extend those subsidies. Why not now? That is the mystery to the American people.

And there will be no credit for a shutdown. The American people know that we are not seeking it. We hope to avoid it. It will be on Republicans who have refused to come to the table. House Republicans have refused even to come to town, come back to go into session, and they are having discussions, reportedly, about whether they can have fundraisers during the shutdown if there is one.

So we need some wiser heads and stronger conscience to prevail, and I am hopeful there is still time to reach that kind of agreement.

I choose to stand with working families, and I urge my Republicans to do the same.

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