On the recordJuly 27, 2017
this bill is the product of the most secretive and partisan process I have seen in my 10 years in the Senate. Who did the magicians who came up with this listen to? They obviously didn't listen to the doctors. The American Medical Association is opposed to this. The American Pediatric Society is opposed to this. The American Academy of Family Physicians is opposed to this. Certainly the doctors didn't get a chance to get heard in this process. How about the hospitals? The American Hospital Association is opposed to this. Catholic hospitals are opposed to this. Rural hospitals are warning that this could end their very existence. Let's have a process that gives the hospitals a chance to be listened to. The nurses in Rhode Island are opposed to this. I think nurses around the country are opposed to this. Why not have an open process that gives the nurses a chance to be heard? Our community health centers are opposed to this. They have been to Washington to say: Please don't do this. You will be hurting real people whom we care for. Illness advocacy groups--the people they are fighting for are stuck in this healthcare system with serious illnesses. Did we listen to the American Cancer Society? No. Did we listen to the American Lung Association? No. We didn't even listen to the hemophilia group, for Pete's sake. Addiction treatment groups are against this. We have listened to nobody.…





