Political Quotes

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object. The Senator from New Hampshire has acknowledged that she had made this previous request last week. The Kaiser Family Foundation, among other publications, has clearly stated that the cost-sharing reductions she is asking for are paid directly by the Federal Government to insurance companies. Thus, when I call this an insurance company bailout, I believe that is literally true. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the cost of these payments at $7 billion in 2017, $10 billion in 2018, and $16 billion by 2027. So what my friend, the Senator from New Hampshire, is proposing is an insurance company bailout in the tens of billions of dollars with no reform, throwing more money at a broken Affordable Care Act, which has been in existence 7 years now. I know they would like to blame this on President Trump, who has been in office just a short time--about a half a year--but this is built into the very structure of the Affordable Care Act, and it isn't working. I, personally, will not be part of any bailout of insurance companies without reforms. That is why we were trying to structure something under the Better Care Act, which unfortunately we haven't been successful with so far. We are going to keep on trying, but this is not the answer. I object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.”