On the recordMarch 14, 2017
Mr. President, before I get into my ``Time to Wake Up'' speech, let me say I appreciate the concern of the Senator from Texas that the Affordable Care Act leaves too many Americans uninsured. I am not sure the solution to that problem is to throw another 24 million people off of their insurance. I appreciate his concern that premiums for many are too high. I am not sure the solution is to dramatically increase premiums on the elderly. I appreciate his concern that Medicaid can be managed by the States--and I think I used his words correctly--along with the money to pay for it. But when the bill has $800 billion in Medicaid savings but will not cure or prevent a single illness, you are not reducing those $800 billion in savings; you are just moving it to the States. You are just putting that burden on the States. Ask Arizona how that worked when they tried to do Medicaid as they dealt with the mortgage meltdown. The American people do perhaps demand better than ObamaCare, but the solution to offer them something that is far, far worse does not seem very sensible. I believe we are willing to work together. Indeed, in the HELP Committee our chairman has already said that as soon as we start talking about repair, we can get to work.…





