Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that my intern, Joshua Friedlein, be granted privileges of the floor for the remainder of the day. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Madam President, the first three words of our Constitution are ``We the People.'' Indeed, our entire system was set up to be a government which produces results of, by, and for the people, but certainly right now, that is not what we are…

Thank you, Mr. President. I thank my leader, Senator Schumer. Colleagues, before morning, millions of Americans could be on their way to lives filled with healthcare misery, eye-popping cost increases, hollowed-out coverage, and gutted…

Mr. President, there has been a lot of talk here on the Senate floor about this so-called skinny health package, and if you believe the reports, the skinny health package was going to be written today at the Senate Republican lunch. On the…

Mr. President, I want to recognize Les and Eva Aigner, two brave Oregonians who lived through the horrors of the Holocaust. I want to honor Les and Eva in the Senate today and share how they survived Nazi atrocities and went on to live in…

Mr. President, how much time remains on our side? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 3 minutes remaining.

Mr. President, I will be very brief. To respond to my friend from Pennsylvania, No. 1, none of what he has discussed has come up in the Senate Finance Committee. What I can tell you about past debates is that our side was always interested…

Mr. President, just very quickly, the Senator pointed out this analysis we have gotten where the premiums go into the stratosphere. Senator Murray and I worked a long time on it. Wages for working people are going up about as fast as a…

I think my colleague is making an important point, as well as my friend from Vermont. Part of the reason that many Republicans want these tax cuts for the fortunate few is arcane to people, pretty complicated. What they really want to do…

The AARP has also not been in front of the Senate Finance Committee. I want to say again that Senators have said: If they are not going to be in front of the Senate Finance Committee, where we ought to actually hear testimony in line with…

Madam President, on this matter of repealing the Affordable Care Act, soon the Senate is going to vote on just whether or not to repeal the Affordable Care Act. I think it is important to note that this would walk back months and months of…

While the senior groups have not been able to come before the Finance Committee to discuss this issue, I can say--and I have been working with a number of these organizations since my days with the Gray Panthers--that they are…

What I can tell my colleagues is that, again, those hospitals have not been in front of the Finance Committee. One of the things I appreciate about so many colleagues on this side of the aisle is that they said: Well, if we are not going…

Madam President, Team Wyden will shortly lose one of its stalwarts, but before John Michels of my Portland office takes his well-deserved retirement after two decades of service to the people of Oregon, I want to take just a few minutes to…

Mr. President, I have commented on the secret process that went on in this discussion, but I will close with this: One version of TrumpCare has already been voted down here in the last day. Nobody knows where this debate will wind up, but…

Mr. President, I thank my colleague for an excellent statement and for appealing to the better angels. Mr. President, I am rising to speak about the Donnelly amendment, which is very much needed because the President--and now Republicans…

My colleague has described how the Senate works best when she says: Look, bipartisanship is not about taking each other's lousy ideas. Bipartisanship is about both sides getting together, having hearings, listening to all alternatives and…

They are opposed, as I have indicated. I think it is particularly important to see this provider-patient partnership that this time is saying the patients come first and this bill hurts patients.