MURPHY JOINS SENATE DEMOCRATS IN HOLDING THE FLOOR, PROTESTING GOP EFFORTS TO REPEAL ACA
The full text of Murphy's speech is below:
Thank you, Mr. President. Once again, congratulations on your election. I haven't gotten the chance to talk to the presiding officer in detail about his path to the
And so, you know, it's not surprising that the reason that people do this, the reason that the 100 of us have decided to run for office and to put ourselves out there in the public spotlight is because we deeply care about our neighbors, about the people who live in our states. We're doing this job to a man and woman because we want to make life better for people. You know, in particular, people who have been just thrown big curveballs by life.
I grew up in a pretty, you know, economically secure house. But I understand a lot of kids don't have that opportunity, and I feel like both
I had a pretty healthy life, a few bumps and bruises along the way. I feel like both
And we're here not because we think it's fun to run elections. We're not here because we just like the look of our name on the door. We're here because we care desperately about people. And I think this is what
But that's not why we decided to do this. We decided to run for the
Ultimately, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, with no replacement, with no plan for what comes next, will hurt millions of real people in very real ways. And I just don't believe in the end that my Republican colleagues here want to cast a vote that will do that.
This tall guy right here is
The Affordable Care Act is entirely responsible for me still being alive. He relapsed after an additional diagnosis before he turned 26. And the only way he was able to get insurance was because of the Affordable Care Act, which allowed him to stay on his mother's insurance until he turned 26. During the course of his treatments, he underwent stem cell transplants which could be up to
Because of those transplants, he needed on-going weekly treatments at a cost of
Now Josh is in remission, and a few more years of being cancer-free, the doctors tell him he might be out of the woods. But he says, "I am more fearful -- I am more fearful for others in my position. I would not have been able to afford those treatments if it wasn't for the Affordable Care Act."
This little guy, his name is Rylan. This is his mother Isabelle. Rylan was born with a congenital heart defect and one day he had to be rushed to
Isabelle tells it plainly. She says, "Without the Affordable Care Act, we would have never been able to afford the care for Rylan. We would have had to make awful decisions, decisions about whether we kept our house, kept our car, whether we could still afford to work." It was the Affordable Care Act that protected her and her family.
And finally, this is Jon. Jon's a hero in my book. Jon was born with cystic fibrosis, and Jon tells the story about how health care is the most important thing to him in the world. It's more important than salary, it's more important than his job, it's more important than friends. Right, he struggles every day to live, and the only way he lives is because he's able to take medications that allow him to continue to breathe, that allow his lungs to continue to function amid this crippling disease and diagnosis.
Jon's on the Affordable Care Act, and Jon will tell you just as plainly as Josh and Isabelle that without the Affordable Care Act, he would die - not two years from now, not three years from now. Jon would die within a matter of weeks because without his medications, he cannot live.
It's not hyperbole to suggest that the absence of the Affordable Care Act is a matter of life and death. Jon will tell you without the Affordable Care Act, he doesn't have insurance. Without insurance, he cannot afford the medications to keep him alive. Without the medications to keep him alive, Jon disappears from this earth.
These are real people, and I care about them because I know them and I've gotten the chance to meet Jon and Isabelle and Josh. You've got these people in your state as well. My Republican colleagues have just as many of them.
Some of the biggest numbers in enrollment in the Affordable Care Act aren't in states represented by
The Affordable Care Act has not failed for the 20 million Americans who have insurance now because of it. The Affordable Care Act has not failed for the millions more who are paying less because insurance companies can no longer discriminate against you if you have a preexisting condition. The Affordable Care Act has not failed for seniors all across this country who are on
There is no doubt that the Affordable Care Act isn't perfect.
I'm pretty sure that
I've been here for the last six years. I was part of the passage of this law when I was in the
There won't be a two-day period in between repeal and replace. And that's what I've heard from my Republican colleagues. So put your vote where your mouth has been because the alternative is a death spiral. The Associated Press calls and says that no, the Affordable Care Act is not in a death spiral. But those same health care economists that are quoted in that story will tell you that if you repeal this bill without any replacement for what happens next, that's what creates the death spiral. Why? Because when you put a clock ticking on the life of the Affordable Care Act, then a couple things happen.
First, people who need some procedure done, they rush into those exchanges and they drive up the actuarial costs. Insurers look at themselves and say why would I hang around for that, and they bolt. So if the Affordable Care Act falls apart, you telegraph to people that you've only got a year or two years left.
You don't have to do this. You don't have to visit that kind of harm on real people. And I know that's not why
This is extraordinary what we are doing right now. This is absolutely extraordinary. We got sworn in less than a week ago, the new President has not even been inaugurated. There isn't even a, there isn't even a conceptual plan for what will replace the Affordable Care Act. And we are rushing forward with repeal. There is an enthusiasm to this cruelty that's hard to understand.
And so I hope that some of the
I yield the floor.
Read this original document at: https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-murphy-joins-senate-democrats-in-holding-the-floor-protesting-gop-efforts-to-repeal-aca
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