-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, millions of Americans better check their mailbox over the next week or two. There is some bad news. Letters are being sent by health insurance companies that are trying to give some kind of a warning to these families about what is going to happen to their health insurance premiums because of the big beautiful Trump budget bill.

One family in Illinois tells the story, Leighanne Safford and her husband Lorry. Right now, Leighanne and Lorry pay $278 a month for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. But starting January 1, their monthly premiums--now get this--jump from $278 a month to $1,800 a month, a 550-percent increase--$1,500 more coming out of the paychecks of Lorry and Leighanne.

Why is this happening? Because we have a system, or had a system, that provided subsidies and tax credits to working families so that they could afford their health insurance. However, in the big beautiful budget bill of Donald Trump--passed with every Republican voting for it, every Democrat voting against it--these subsidies and credits started to disappear.

Thanks to President Biden and a Democratic Congress, those credits were there for families that they could count on. Because of the Republican decision with President Trump to give tax breaks to the wealthiest people in America, they cut back on the premium assistance that was available to the Safford family.

These credits had opened the door to millions of working and middle- class Americans like Leighanne and Lorry to be able to afford quality health insurance.

Now they have got to make a choice. This is a lot of money--$1,500 a month. Millions of Americans will decide: Are we going to cut back on essentials like food and dental or switch to a higher deductible plan, more money out-of-pocket if anybody gets sick? Leighanne said:

Right now, we're making a decision based on . . . being relatively healthy. But, as we all know, with health, it can change any day.

That is the same bind that millions of Americans are going to face because of the Republican decision to give a tax break to the wealthiest people in America.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, more than 4 million American families are going to lose their health insurance if Congressional Republicans allow these subsidies to expire, and that is what is going to happen if we don't change, including more than 100,000 in my State of Illinois.

It doesn't have to be this way. We can extend these tax credits and still fund government.

I remember a time in this Chamber when Democrats and Republicans came together on a bipartisan basis when real family challenges existed and tried to solve the problem. We just don't have that spirit here anymore. They have decided on the Republican side, we are going to give tax breaks to these wealthy people, even at the expense of working families.

And we have a President hell-bent on abusing his power and a Republican Congress that refuses to disagree with him.

Earlier this year, President Trump and Republicans in Congress signed into law this Big Beautiful Bill. It cuts nearly a trillion dollars from programs like Medicaid. What is Medicaid important for? Limited- income families and retired individuals.

This big beautiful Republican budget bill cuts nearly a trillion dollars from Medicaid and $300 billion from the Food Stamp Program, now known as SNAP.

As a result of their bill, the Republican bill, more than 10 million Americans will lose their health coverage.

Ever had a child who was sick and no health insurance? I have. You will never forget it as long as you live.

This is separate from 4 million others who stand to lose their health coverage if the Republicans continue to block our efforts with the ACA tax credits. It seems Republicans in Congress are fine adding more than 3 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years to pay for those tax cuts, but they draw the line at extending healthcare to millions of hard-working Americans.

The math is clear. Republicans don't have the votes to force this extreme agenda. Government requires input from both sides. We are taking a stand for this family and millions more just like them. When they get the jolt of the news of where their health insurance premium is going to go, where do they turn? I hope they can turn to Congress and Members of the Senate who actually care for working families. If we refuse to do the job, Leighanne and Lorry are going to pay the price.

Let's be clear, Democrats stand ready to negotiate on a fair bipartisan basis. The only reason we are staring at this shutdown is because Republicans have refused to come to the table.

There was a meeting at the White House today. Don't let it be the last one. Let's come together and fix this healthcare problem for working families.

The President on FOX News said last week: Don't even bother dealing with the Democrats.

Well, the President is wrong. We are in this together. We need to solve this problem together. If the government shuts down, it will be because of President Trump walking away from a major challenge facing working families.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source