Speaker 1 (00:00):
(silence)
Audience (00:00):
[inaudible 00:13:01].
Hakeem Jeffries (13:12):
Okay. Good morning.
Audience (14:13):
Good morning.
Hakeem Jeffries (14:16):
Thank you to my democratic colleagues for your presence, for your unity, for your strength, and for your leadership. I'm deeply appreciative that we've been joined today by three extraordinary hard-working American taxpayers, Heather, Jackie, and Jana, whose lives are being upended by the government shutdown and the Republican healthcare crisis, and they are here to tell their stories.
(14:50)
Donald Trump and republicans in Congress have shut down the government 15 days ago, and they haven't done a thing since to try and reopen it. House Democrats are here reporting for duty. We are ready, we are willing, and we are able to negotiate a bipartisan spending agreement that actually meets the needs of the American people. Reopen the government and decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis.
Audience (15:31):
Yeah.
Hakeem Jeffries (15:34):
But we also need a common sense partner on the other side of the aisle. House Republicans shut the government down, then they ran out of town. And for the last three weeks, they're nowhere to be found. What more can I say? You deserve better. You deserve better. The American people deserve better. House Democrats are fighting to lower the high cost of living, house Democrats are fighting to fix our broken healthcare system, and house Democrats are fighting to clean up corruption to deliver a country that actually works for the American people. Donald Trump promised to love and cherish Medicaid. Instead, Republicans enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. That's unacceptable. Republicans falsely claim now to be the party of healthcare, but their policies are closing hospitals, nursing homes, and community-based health centers all throughout the country. That's unacceptable. The Trump administration is giving $20 billion to bail out a right-wing wannabe dictator in Argentina, but Republicans are unwilling to spend a dime to provide affordable healthcare to working-class Americans. That's unacceptable. The American people deserve better. You deserve better. It's time to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. It's time to prevent tens of millions of Americans from experiencing dramatically increased health care premiums. It's time to make sure that every single American can afford to go see a doctor when they need one. It's time to reopen the government and stand by our hardworking, patriotic, federal workers,
Hakeem Jeffries (18:00):
…Workers and it's time to do all of that right now.
Crowd (18:05):
Yes.
Hakeem Jeffries (18:05):
No further delay. House Republicans need to get back to work. House Democrats are in this fight for working-class Americans. We are in this fight for rural America. We are in this fight for urban America. We are in this fight for suburban America. We are in this fight for small-town America. We are in this fight for the heartland of America. And we are in this fight for Black and brown communities all across America. House Democrats and Senate Democrats are in this fight until we win this fight on behalf of the American people.
Crowd (18:43):
Yes.
Hakeem Jeffries (18:43):
Cancel the cuts, lower the cost, save healthcare. It is now my honor to introduce a registered nurse and a principled healthcare provider from the great state of Connecticut.
Crowd (19:00):
Woo. [inaudible 00:19:02].
Hakeem Jeffries (19:01):
Heather Brough.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Good morning, Washington DC. My name is Heather Brough. I Am a surgical nurse at a small hospital in Norwich, Connecticut, serving patients from both rural and urban communities in the surrounding area. I'm also proud to be the president of our AFT affiliate 5149 in Southeastern Connecticut.
(19:28)
As healthcare workers, we take pride in giving our patients the very best care because that's what they deserve. We've long struggled with a healthcare system that's strained, which is hard as it is, but we know it could be even worse. Today, I'm here to say that we now are deeply worried that it will be much worse. We know a healthcare crisis is just around the corner because the big ugly bill law enacted by Republicans in Congress and the Trump White House, it's coming. This partisan law slashed Medicaid and allowed healthcare tax credits to expire for working families, all while funding tax breaks for billionaires.
(20:06)
That may be great if you have money, but it's going to make life harder and more expensive for everybody else, including more than 100,000 people in Connecticut who will face higher premiums if the tax credits expire. Already, our small community hospital has had one of the busiest years to date. And with cold and flu season just around the corner, healthcare workers are gearing up for the worst respiratory season we've seen since COVID in 2020. We have a nursing shortage. It currently takes months to see a primary care provider, and forget about getting an appointment with a specialist in under 6 to 12 months. We have patients sleeping on stretchers in our emergency rooms overnight and on stretchers in hallways while waiting for other patients to be discharged. Sometimes we count up to 30 patients sleeping on those stretchers. We call those dynamic days.
(20:57)
It's clear that the cuts coming down the pike have the capacity to dismantle and destabilize our currently understaffed and struggling healthcare system. Hospitals and clinics will close or cut essential services, forcing patients to travel further and wait longer for care. Up to 15 million people could eventually lose their healthcare coverage and millions more will see their healthcare premiums increase. Our communities can't afford groceries right now. How do we expect them to afford significant rate increases to their health insurance?
(21:29)
And we know that rural communities will face higher premium increases than other communities if the healthcare tax credits are allowed to expire. Nationally, nearly a quarter of farmers and ranchers get healthcare coverage through plans supported by these tax credits. Entire communities will be devastated if the politicians in charge of Congress and the White House don't take action now.
(21:50)
The frontline workers are scared. Everyone who's concerned about their own health or loved one's health should be as well. Asking our friends and neighbors who can't afford food or rent to pay on average more than double out of pocket for their health insurance premiums is going to force people off their health insurance. That won't stop people from needing emergency care, regardless of whether they live in a blue or red community. Communities will suffer, people will get sicker. It's not at all a stretch to say that some of them are going to die. But instead of working with Democrats to lower healthcare costs, Republicans shut down the government and took a vacation.
(22:32)
Many of our patients are hardworking Americans who are about to receive notice that they're losing the tax credit that allows them to afford healthcare, and Republicans are okay with that. Republicans control Congress and the White House.
Crowd (22:46):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
They should return here and do their job. They should end this government shutdown and work with Democrats to rescue the healthcare that's now at risk. Our patients and communities deserve no less. And now it is my pleasure to yield to one of my siblings in this fight, Jackie.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
[inaudible 00:23:24]. My name is Jacqueline Bush Holcomb and I am 59 years old. I live in Clark Summit, Pennsylvania in the northeast part of the state of Pennsylvania. In 2008, my career as a mortgage wholesale lender came to a halt due to the festering mortgage crisis. My husband is self-employed as a certified residential appraiser. When I lost my job, we suddenly no longer had health insurance. We obtained insurance coverage for our family and we paid for the coverage until our premiums became too expensive to afford. In 2014, I needed emergency surgery but was denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition. We took money from our savings and paid out-of-pocket over $6,000 for my surgery. I appealed the cost of my out-of-pocket expense for my surgery and waited for a determination. We continued to drain our savings to pay for our health insurance premiums. While waiting for my appeal determination, our premiums increased dramatically. We were at a point where we could no longer afford health insurance.
(24:34)
And then in 2015 came the Godsend, the Affordable Care Act. We have received health insurance from the ACA since 2015. I currently work for my husband and his appraisal business. Our income fluctuates due to the real estate market. We update our income for coverage through the ACA accordingly as required. Our annual premium rate fluctuates and we adjust our budget for coverage as we depend more and more on health insurance. As we age.
(25:08)
Our premiums are likely to double or even triple next year. Because of Republican cuts to the ACA. We will not be able to afford this drastic increase, especially since our other costs, like food, are going up as well. My husband is 62 years old and I'm 59 years old. We cannot afford a sudden increase for health insurance and we will have to go without coverage.
(25:42)
We are just one American family having this discussion and realizing that we are taking a gamble on our own lives. We have depended on our healthcare coverage to keep us healthy, and I am thankful to say we are healthy right now. By forcing us to go without health insurance, Republicans will steal the good health from us that we currently have. Instead of working with Democrats to find a solution, Republicans have shut down the government and fled DC. I am requesting, pleading, and now demanding that Republicans do their jobs and protect the millions of Americans like me who rely on the Affordable Care Act.
Crowd (26:27):
Great.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Thank you. I'll now yield to Jonna.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
My name is Jonna Higgins-Freese, and my family has lived, farmed, and worked in Iowa since the 1850s. I'm here today as a private citizen and mother of two kids with critical and chronic illnesses who use Medicaid. When Senator Joni Ernst and Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks were voting for the big brutal bill to take working people's money
Speaker 2 (27:00):
… away from Medicaid and Social Security to give handouts to the rich. Someone shouted to Ernst that gutting Medicaid would kill an estimated 51,000 people next year, and Ernst said, "We're all going to die."
(27:14)
My babies were both sick. My babies were both sick from the instant they were born in Iowa City. My older son already died. He was born in cardiac arrest. I lay in the silent delivery room while the doctors and nurses were scared, waiting to see whether my kid could be resuscitated. So I don't need my elected officials to tell me that we're all going to die. I need representatives like Miller-Meeks to stop stealing the money that helps my kids have a good life. To Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who said hell will freeze over before she holds a public town hall or agrees to meet with me and tell me to my face that my kids should just die, I say, you took an oath as a physician to do no harm, but you have shut down the government because you refuse to make sure people can go to the doctor and get their medications.
(28:27)
I haven't slept through the night in months. I wake up terrified about a lot of things this regime is doing that hurt the people I love, including how my family can live with these Medicaid cuts. There are 600,000 other Iowans just like me who can't live without Medicaid. That's nearly one in five Iowans, and many of them don't even know they're on Medicaid because it's been privatized and called Molina, Iowa Total Care, or Well Point, or they just know they're on a waiver and they don't even know that's Medicaid. For our kids, Medicaid pays for health insurance and healthcare as a backup to our private insurance. Medicaid pays for prescriptions. Medicaid also pays for respite care. The state agrees that one of my kids needs 17 to 24 hours of care a day. For the first nine years, my family, including our neighbors, did that on our own. Then after three years on the waiting list, we started using respite through Medicaid and the respite workers would take my son to the River Bandits game with Nana and Grandpa, feed him and give him his meds, or play Uno with him, and we could better care for our younger son or just sit down a minute without worrying about meds and feedings every single second. Or his respite workers would take him to visit our friend Ada in Cedar Falls, who's also on Medicaid. ADA is 26. She's non-verbal, requires help with toileting, constant monitoring for seizures, and assistance with movement. What's going to happen to Ada and her family as these cuts kick in?
(29:55)
Now, my son is living in a group home, which has been so good for him and for us, and already before the cuts there's an eight-year wait list to get Medicaid that supports housing. After the cuts, who knows? I did two years of AmeriCorps national service and my father and grandparents served in the military in World War II to defend government of, by, and for the people, not a government, of, by, and for the billionaires.
(30:29)
We are the richest country in the history of the world. I don't know why we let Republicans waste our time saying that we can't provide healthcare for everyone. There's enough for everything for everyone as long as we don't let Republicans and the rich steal more than half of it off the top.
Hakeem Jeffries (30:54):
Thank you, Johnna, thank you, Jackie, thank you, Heather, for sharing your powerful stories on behalf of the tens of millions of Americans who are in the line of fire as a result of the unprecedented Republican assault on healthcare in America.
(31:13)
It's time to reopen the government. It's time to enact a bipartisan spending agreement that actually makes life better for everyday Americans. And it's time to decisively address the Republican health care crisis. Democrats are in this fight until we win this fight for the American people. Thank you all.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
That video circulating online that shows Democratic lawmakers that went to the Speaker's office and they were messing with the signs. There's one lawmaker who was yelling at [inaudible 00:31:59]