- Late this afternoon House Speaker Paul Ryan decided not to
hold a vote on his bill that would have repealed and replaced
most of the Affordable Care Act.
The vote was supposed to have occurred Thursday, on the
seventh anniversary of the bill's signing, but it became
clear Republicans did not have the votes to pass their bill.
Here's what Speaker Ryan had to say.
- We came really close today but we came up short.
I spoke to the president just a little while ago.
I told him the best thing I think to do is to pull this bill
and he agreed with that decision.
I will not sugarcoat this.
This is a disappointing day for us.
Doing big things is hard.
All of us, all of us, myself included, we will need
time to reflect on how we got to this moment,
what we could have done to do it better.
- Even before this vote was canceled, we invited all the
Republican members of Congress from Wisconsin to join us on
this program, including Senator Ron Johnson
and Governor Scott Walker.
All of them declined.
However, Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin did join us
earlier today to talk about health care.
Senator Baldwin, thanks for joining us today.
- Thank you.
- Recent polling shows support for the American Health Care Act
at 17% nationwide.
Have you ever seen a bill this unpopular get forced
to the floor for a vote when it's unclear it can even pass?
- I haven't seen anything like this before, and it's been a
tumultuous week in Washington D.C., as Republican members of
the House seem to be talking amongst themselves rather than
listening to the people who sent them to represent them.
They seem to be discussing how to make a bad bill even worse in
order to try to find a majority.
It's quite stunning to behold.
- Now, if it does pass the House, which is unclear at this
point, it only needs 51 votes in the Senate.
Do you think it could pass there?
- Certainly not in any form resembling what they are
debating right now in the House of Representatives.
We've already had several of my Republican colleagues for
various reasons say this is a non-starter with them in the
Senate.
But I actually hope the House does what's right when they
vote, we anticipate later today, and turn it back.
This is clearly something that harms Wisconsinites.
It harms Americans in terms of higher costs for less care,
shortening the solvency of the Medicare program, capping and
cutting Medicaid, putting rural clinics and hospitals in
jeopardy of having to shut out the lights.
With big tax giveaways to the wealthiest.
It's just bad news on every front and especially after
reading reports across our state in the last week of how harshly
this impacts both western and northern Wisconsin, and older
Americans and Wisconsinites, 45 and above.
I just hope they find the resolve to listen to
their constituents and vote no.
- If this repeal and replace effort fails, the president said
he's already ready to move on and let Obamacare stand.
Do you believe that or do you think there will be more
attempts in the future to reform, if this fails?
- You know, I think that if this fails, we should start
doing what we should have been doing for the last seven years,
and that is constantly working together to strengthen our
health care system, to lower costs, to increase competitions,
and to stand up to those powerful folks that are sort of
rigging things in their favor.
In particular I would mention the pharmaceutical companies
that we are seeing double, triple, quadruple the price of
lifesaving drugs like the Epi-pen we saw last year,
and seeing in a continuing fashion this year.
There's no reason at all why the Congress of the United States
shouldn't work together to confront the real challenges
that exist in any complex system like health care.
But Republicans have confused, or have refused and have said
repeal, repeal, repeal, for seven years, and now look where
this has put us.
- Your Wisconsin colleague, Republican Senator Ron Johnson,
has said they need to work with Democrats to fix Obamacare.
Are there areas where you think both parties could work to
improve the current law?
- Oh, absolutely.
And this has been my posture all the way along.
Health systems are complex.
And the Affordable Care Act gave people access to health
insurance who hadn't had it before.
And it was wonderful in that respect.
People who had pre-existing health conditions or who had
insurance but had annual or lifetime caps that sent them to
medical bankruptcy.
But even the Affordable Care Act was not the end.
Certainly not perfect.
And as we saw prices go up, we need to vigilantly and
constantly be working together to confront that.
Whether that's working on the issue of the high cost of
prescription medication or whether it's trying to introduce
more competition so that people can have choices and be able to
afford their premiums and deductibles.
But as we've seen this Trumpcare, this Republican
proposal to repeal and replace sets all of those indicators in
the wrong direction.
So again, I hope that today, later today, that the
Republicans reject this proposal and we get back to working
across the party aisle on something that affects everybody
we represent.
- Now, if this repeal and replace plan fails, are you
worried Republicans could undermine Obamacare in other
ways, by changing regulations at the federal administrative level
or not funding premium subsidies in future years?
- You know, I hope that the mischief-making is done.
The idea that we would put America's health and well-being
behind partisan politics, I hope that today, if I had any sway
over the outcome in the House, that we learn a lesson and that
we begin to work together to advance everybody's health and
well-being.
Their access to affordable, quality care.
We always should be working together in that direction, not
trying to score political points and when it was cast in that way
yesterday, I understand that President Trump spoke with some
of the House Republicans and you know, issued his stern warning.
It was--it seemed more about political points than it did the
well-being of Wisconsin citizens who all want to be able to
protect their families and be able to get high quality,
affordable health care for their, themselves
and their families.
- We've got just under a minute left.
But this isn't the only big thing happening in Washington.
The Supreme Court nomination of Neil Gorsuch is moving forward.
You came out in opposition as soon as he was nominated.
Have you heard anything to change your mind?
- I had a chance to study his record when he was on a short
list of folks that President Trump might nominate.
The things that distress me so significantly is the lopsided
number of times he sided with powerful corporations over
workers and retirees, where he sided against disabled students
just trying to get a fair and equitable education in our K-12
system.
When he's decided against women's health.
You know, he decided in the Hobby Lobby case that
corporations are people.
That to me is counterproductive at this critical time when his
nomination and his confirmation, if it goes through, will affect
Americans for generations, not just years, but generations.
And so I believe that Neil Gorsuch should be held to the 60
vote standard that previous Supreme Court nominees have been
held to.
If he can't get 60 bipartisan votes then I don't think Mitch
McConnell should change the rules.
I think Donald Trump should change the nominee.
- Senator Baldwin, thank you for your time today.