Chuck Schumer: “first, on healthcare, my two good friends Senators Alexander and Murray have constructed a good, fair, bipartisan…”

“first, on healthcare, my two good friends Senators Alexander and Murray have constructed a good, fair, bipartisan agreement that gives us a way forward on healthcare. It will offer stability in the markets, and it will help lower premiums. We have seen President Trump's near-constant equivocation on the agreement. We shouldn't let it impede the progress of this very important bipartisan compromise. He is for the bill one day, against it the next. That is not uncommon; the President sometimes is for and against something in the same sentence. We can only hope he comes around again once he grasps what is in the bill. The Alexander-Murray deal is not a bailout to the insurance companies at all; it is the opposite. We have taken pains to ensure that insurance companies do not reap any benefits from this program. That is what Alexander and Murray have done. They have explicit provisions in the bill to ensure that the cost-sharing program does what it is intended to do: Lower premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs for Americans who can least afford it. I was reading an article this morning where they interviewed a retired manufacturing worker in Pennsylvania who was upset by the President's decision. The man said: It seems like he is trying to hurt the middle class. . . . He [President Trump] says he's going to make it better for everyone. How does a (premium) increase make it better? That is the question the President should ask himself.…”