Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services Relating to ``Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Floor Speech
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Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise today because this President is poised to strip away healthcare from American families again. If Congress doesn't act to pass this measure, Americans will be forced to jump through more hoops just to get health insurance, and 1.8 million Americans will lose their coverage.
This is just more of the same from Republicans and the President. Donald Trump and Republicans have spent over a decade trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act entirely, with no plan to replace it. When they haven't been able to repeal it wholesale, Republicans have looked for ways to attack and weaken the Affordable Care Act from the inside out.
And this is just what the administration did with this rule. They are chipping away at the Affordable Care Act and taking away healthcare from Wisconsin families.
While President Trump works out his concept of a plan, Republicans still have no real proposal on healthcare. Even if they could repeal the Affordable Care Act, they have nothing to protect the 24 million Americans who got coverage on healthcare.gov from being simply kicked off their insurance.
``Concepts of a plan'' simply are not good enough for the people that I represent. They deserve better. In fact, they need some breathing room and lower costs.
Instead of meeting families where they are and lowering costs, Republicans are taking us in the wrong direction. At the start of this year, 22 million Americans saw their premiums go up in 2026 because Republicans refused to extend tax breaks to help families afford their healthcare.
Behind every 1 of those 22 million Americans is a story--a family forced to make impossible choices about finances, their health, and their future. I am talking about folks like Nancy and John from Park Falls, WI, whose premiums were set to increase by over $2,000 each month in 2026.
Nancy wrote to me:
This is absolutely unaffordable!! Literally we cannot pay this. We would have to sell our home and our vehicles in order to just come up with the money to do that.
Another constituent from Barron County, WI, wrote to me sharing that without the tax breaks, he would have to spend over 40 percent--get that: 40 percent--of his income on health insurance alone just to ensure his wife could continue to get her treatment for her breast cancer.
I also heard from Eric and his wife in Menomonie, WI. They both retired from teaching after 30 years and are still not yet eligible for Medicare. He wrote to me that they were seriously considering going without any health insurance since paying close to $3,000 a month on a fixed income might just break the bank.
Republicans ran out the clock on helping families like these, and the final window to get coverage for this year ends in just 2 days on January 15. How many Americans like Eric or Nancy are being forced to give up their health insurance this year? How many more will consider selling their houses or their cars just to make sure that they can afford sometimes lifesaving care?
Now, on top of this, the Trump administration is pushing a rule to kick even more families off of their healthcare. The rule we are talking about today would shorten the open enrollment periods and introduce much more redtape, locking eligible families out of getting their health insurance.
We should be making it easier, not harder, for Americans to see a doctor. We should be making healthcare more affordable, not more expensive.
Over the past year, I have talked to countless constituents who are sick and tired of Republicans' constant attacks on their healthcare.
Instead of spending time coming up with new ways to kick Americans off Affordable Care Act plans, I urge my Republican colleagues to help us reverse this disastrous rule and actually start working with us to fix our broken healthcare system.
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