Amy Klobuchar: “I rise to speak about some of our colleagues who are leaving the Senate. Before I do that, I want to address what…”

“I rise to speak about some of our colleagues who are leaving the Senate. Before I do that, I want to address what happened late on the Friday night--I think 9 days before Christmas--when a Texas judge basically threw out the Affordable Care Act. This latest decision comes more than 6 years after the Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Justice Roberts, already upheld the law's constitutionality. That opinion also found that parts of the law can be severed from the rest of the legislation. It comes after the administration has stated emphatically that it would not defend the law. So, basically, instead of going in there and helping out to save healthcare for millions of Americans and protect them from being thrown off their insurance if they have preexisting conditions--instead of going into that burning building--the administration has said to basically stand down and throw lighter fluid on the fire. That is exactly what has happened. If this ruling takes effect, the consequences will be devastating. To start, protections for people with preexisting conditions would be gone. About half of all Americans have preexisting conditions. This isn't just about rare diseases. This is also about asthma and diabetes. The ability to keep your kids on your insurance plans until they are 26 years old will be gone.…”