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Floor Speech

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Ms. WARREN. Madam President, it has been 1 whole week since Republicans shut down the government. So why did they close the government? Because Republicans decided they would rather shut down the entire government than lower costs and save healthcare for millions of Americans.

Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are knocking 15 million people off their health insurance, driving up the cost of healthcare for everyone else, closing rural hospitals, shutting down community health centers, and much, much more--all so that they can fund giant tax cuts for billionaires. Those are Republican priorities.

Democrats are fighting to prevent insurance premiums from doubling. We are fighting to help American families hang onto their health insurance, because no one should go bankrupt because they got sick and needed to see a doctor.

In the next few days, Americans will begin getting letters in the mail, telling them their insurance premiums are going up--way, way up. For some families, those premiums are doubling. Others will get priced out of their plans completely, leaving them with no coverage at all.

Here is what that means: Thanks to Republicans in Congress, a 60- year-old couple making $85,000 a year will have to pay more than $22,000 every year to keep their coverage--$22,000. For families already hanging on by their fingernails, that could be a matter of keeping healthcare coverage or just giving up, and that could be a matter of life and death.

I know what it is like. Growing up, there was never a time when my family didn't worry about money. My daddy ended up as a janitor. When I was 12, my daddy had a heart attack. He lost his job. The family's station wagon was repossessed, and we were about to lose our home. My mother had never worked outside the home, but that is when she put on her best dress, got herself a minimum wage job of answering phones at Sears, and saved our home and saved our family.

Our healthcare system was already broken with high premiums, insurance denials, and huge copays, and that was before Donald Trump and the Republicans decided to make the healthcare crisis so much worse.

Democrats are fighting to reverse Republicans' giant healthcare cuts and lower costs for Americans. Right now, it is only the Republicans in Congress who stand in the way. Affordable Care Act tax credits help people afford their healthcare, and they are set to expire at the end of the year. And insurance companies are resetting their rates right now--right now.

We are barreling toward a tipping point for American families. If Congress does not act, nearly 22 million Americans will see their health insurance premiums more than double on average. Democrats want to lower those costs right now. Republicans are shutting down the entire government instead of coming to the table to help American families.

An overwhelming majority of Americans wants us to extend these tax credits so that insurance premiums don't go through the roof. Even most Trump supporters agree with us on this. Donald Trump himself just said he wants to make it better. It is only Senate Republicans who are standing in the way. Senate Republicans have refused to even sit down and negotiate over healthcare cuts, even though thousands of their constituents will see their costs go way up.

For example, in Alabama, about 447,000 Americans will see their insurance premiums skyrocket. In Alaska, about 24,000 Americans will see their insurance premiums skyrocket. In Arkansas, it is about 144,000 Americans. In Florida, it is 4.4 million Americans. In Idaho, it is 101,000 Americans. In Indiana, it is 290,000 Americans. In Iowa, it is 118,000 Americans. In Kansas, it is 182,000 Americans. In Kentucky, it is 77,000 Americans. In Louisiana, it is 276,000 Americans. In Maine, it is 54,000 Americans. In Mississippi, it is 320,000 Americans. In Missouri, it is 383,000 Americans. In Montana, it is 67,000 Americans. In North Carolina, it is 888,000 Americans. In North Dakota, it is 38,000 Americans. In Ohio, it is 514,000 Americans. In Oklahoma, it is 290,000 Americans. In Pennsylvania, it is 422,000 Americans. In South Carolina, it is 588,000 Americans. In South Dakota, it is 50,000 Americans. In Tennessee, it is 593,000 Americans. In Texas, it is 3.7 million Americans; nearly 4 million Americans will see their insurance premiums skyrocket. In Utah, it is 395,000 Americans. In West Virginia, it is 63,000 Americans. In Wisconsin, it is 272,000 Americans. In Wyoming, it is 43,000 Americans.

Look, Democrats are fighting to lower costs for every single one of those Americans. Where are their Republican Senators? Those were the insurance premiums, which will cause about 5 million people to lose their coverage because they just can't afford those higher costs.

But Republicans are also cutting healthcare for another 10 million Americans. Those are seniors in nursing homes, mamas with newborn babies, and it is your neighbor who needs a wheelchair or a home health aide to be able to live independently.

Democrats have said, time and time again: If Congress is going to pass a budget for the U.S. Government, then saving healthcare for those millions of Americans has to be part of the deal. We will not stop fighting for Americans' access to their doctors and to their hospitals.

What has been the response of Donald Trump? He doesn't want to talk about healthcare. Nope. Instead, his plan is to inflict maximum pain on Americans during this Republican shutdown.

His right-hand man, Russ Vought, is shutting down important infrastructure projects as political punishment. They are threatening to fire many more Federal workers. And get this: The White House is furloughing hundreds of staffers because of the Republican shutdown, but they are keeping every single DOGE staffer on.

In total, the Trump administration is furloughing over half a million workers who work every day to keep our country running. But at least Elon Musk's pals at DOGE are safe, and that tells you everything you need to know about the Republican plans.

Look, this may feel like a surprise to millions of Americans, but the Republican attack on Americans' healthcare has been long in the making. It is exactly the shutdown playbook Donald Trump and his lackeys laid out in their Project 2025. Since day one, Trump has tried again and again and again to shut down the parts of government he just doesn't like. He has tried to illegally wipe away millions of dollars for programs that Congress had already agreed to fund. He has illegally fired tens of thousands of Federal workers. He has illegally sent our troops to invade American cities.

The response of Republicans in the Senate has been to bow down and let Donald Trump do all of that and more.

Now, during a government shutdown, the President of the United States is saying: ``A lot of good can come'' from a shutdown, and ``we can get rid of a lot of things we didn't want.''

While all of that is going on, why would Democrats sign off on a Republican budget without ironclad guarantees to make sure that Trump won't just turn around and go back on the deal and not lower costs for families? The answer is, we won't. While Senate Republicans keep taking orders from their wannabe King and drag out their government shutdown, Senate Democrats will not stop fighting to save healthcare and to lower costs for families. We want rollbacks of the Republican cuts that will take away healthcare coverage from 15 million people and drive up insurance premiums for everyone else.

This is not a partisan issue. This is not a partisan fight. Democrats are in this fight for all Americans, and we urge Senate Republicans to join us to protect healthcare coverage for millions of Americans and end this painful government shutdown.

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