government ten days from now unless the democrats agree to defund planned parenthood. does that sound familiar? well, that's because it is the very same tactic used in 2013 when republicans shut down the government over the affordable care act and flushed $24 billion down the drain, the very same tactic that former speaker john boehner admitted was a -- quote -- predictable disaster. republg politics with planned parent hoot but this isn't a game for the millions of women who depend on planned paren planned parentc medical care every day of the year and have nowhere else to go. and threatening to shut down the government is certainly not a game. not a game for cancer patients, who could be turned away from clinical trials at n.i.h. it's not a game for small businesses that depend on our national parks being open for tourist visits. it's not a game for seniors who

need their medicare paperwork processed or for the veterans whose benefits could be at risk. and it is not a game for the hundreds of thousands of federal employees across this country, from park rangers to sign toises cafeteria workers -- scientists to cafeteria workers and janitors at government buildings who could be sent home two weeks before christmas with no paycheck coming in. mr. president, this radical assault on women's health care and reproductive rights has gone far enough. so in case my republican colleagues are suffering from short-term memory loss, let me spell this out again loud and clear. we will not allow you to turn back the clock on women's health and women's rights. if you try to sneak provisions into the government funding bill to defund planned parenthood, we will fight you every step of the way and we will win. that is not a threat.

that is a promise. i yield back the remainder of my time. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: madam president, i rise this morning in opposition to the reconciliation bill that we're considering today. there are a number of reasons i have concerns but one of the most important has to do with its repeal of the affordable care act. the affordable care act, while it's not perfect, it is working. more americans than ever before have access to health care. in new hampshire, almost 45,000 people have received health insurance through the exchange. most of those people did not have health care coverage before the affordable care act. and the majority of these people are getting their insurance premium support which is what

allows them to get their health care because it makes it more affordable. in new hampshire, another 44,000 people are getting coverage through medicaid expansion. the governor and the state legislature worked long and hard to come to a bipartisan agreement -- a democratic governor and a republican legislature -- on how to expand medicaid in a way that works for new hampshire. the reconciliation bill that we're considering today would turn back the clock on all that work. it would repeal medicaid expansion and it would eliminate coverage for so many of the people who just need it the mo most. in short, this bill would wreak havoc on the lives of families and individuals, people like deborah from conway, new hampshire. she and her husband own a small business. she work hard and they live within their means. but for 17 years they have been

without health insurance and they've had to forego health care services because of costs. as a result of medicaid expansion, deborah was recently able to go to the doctor for her first physical in 18 years. imagine that. her first physical in 18 years. during that exam she discovered that she high -- she has high blood pressure and that she's at risk for cancer. well, thanks to the affordable care act, she's able to take the preventive measures and she expects to live a long, healthy life. and, by the way, is probably going to save money because she's gotten this preventive care. we cannot turn our backs on people like deborah and her family. finally, the reconciliation bill would defund planned parenthood, which would deny access to 12,000 women in new hampshire to health care providers that they trust and to services that they need. and for many of those women, planned parenthood is the

easiest, the most affordable, the best way for them and, in many cases, the only way for them to get the care that they need. so i proudly stand with the millions of women who rely on planned parenthood and i will continue to oppose any attempt to defund such an important component of our health care system. now, while i remain gravely concerned about the underlying bill, i am pleased to join senators wyden and murray today in offering an amendment to address an issue that is vitally important to new hampshire, to northern new england and to so much of the country and that is this epidemic of heroin and opiod abuse. in new hampshire and across this country, drug abuse has reached epidemic proportions. each day -- each day -- 120 americans die of drug overdoses. that's two deaths every hour. in new hampshire, we're losing a

person a day due to drug overdoses. drug overdose deaths have exceeded car crashes as the number-one cause of fatalities in the united states. and we just had a report come out that shows for the first time in years, the life span of white americans is going down and it's going down, for one reason that was cited and that is because of drug overdoses. mental health illness and drug abuse is a national public health emergency and it is time for us to act. what the amendment that we are offering will do is take important steps to provide critical refor the prevention -- critical resources for the prevention, intervention and treatment for mental illness and substance abuse disorders. the amendment will ensure any health insurance plan purchased on the exchange is held to mental health parity and

addiction equity standards and it will make it easy for consumers to know what benefits are covered and the insurance plan's denial records. and importantly, the amendment makes it easier for patients to receive medication assisted treatment drugs, drugs like methadone and maltrexon and now oxone, commonly known as norcan, and it prohibits lifetime limits on those drugs. our amendment also strengthens medicaid coverage of services to prevent and treat mental illness and substance abuse disorders. again, not only do we have this epidemic but we don't have enough treatment beds, we don't have enough treatment facilities, we don't have enough providers to assist and support those people who are trying to get clean. for years medicaid has been prohibited from reimbursing medically necessary care to patients in residential or treatment facilities with more

than 16 beds. historically this has been a barrier for patients who need these treatments for drug abuse and who have limited access to that treatment. our amendment would enable more people to receive these services by allowing reimbursement for these facilities in states that have expanded medicaid like new hampshire. the amendment will also provide additional medicaid federal funding to help states provide community treatment programs and health homes for those in need of help. finally, this amendment provides over $15 billion of needed funding to states and municipalities to help address the public health emergency. those states and communities that are on the front lines of this crisis. through the substance abuse prevention and treatment block grants, the community mental health service block grants, this funding is targeted to those most at risk for substance abuse and mental illness, and it

gives the states flexibility to develop and fund programs that work best for them. this prevention, intervention and treatment of substance abuse and mental health disorders has the potential to make the difference in millions of lives. and the amendment is fully paid for by closing tax loopholes. with the tools provided in this amendment, we can change the lives of those struggling with mental illness and substance use disorders and we can turn the tide of this national public health epidemic. i thank you all and hope that as we consider this reconciliation bill that we will have the opportunity to vote on this amendment and that there would be support to address the critical crisis we are facing because of heroin and opiate aabuse. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor and note the

absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call: a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: madam president, i'm going to take a few minutes to talk about the reconciliation

bill that we're discussing and debating on the senate floor here this week, particularly the focus on repealing the affordable care act. what's called obamacare. and there's many, many aspects of the bill tt we're debating. the individual mandate, the cadillac tax, the employer mandate. these will all be gone and essentially we will start the process of what i believe the vast majority of americans want which is real affordable health care. not what we currently have. so i was recently home in anchorage, alaska, and, you know, madam president, a lot of us, we get a sense of what our constituents are feeling by just going about doing our basic chores and running errands when we're back home. in the course of two hours --

two hours -- back home two weeks ago, getting gas, at a grocery store, at lowe's, i had three different alaskans come up to me and plead -- plead -- to do something about obamacare, how it was wiping out their home income, their small business. three -- two hours. similarly, i was in fairbanks just a few days ago and heard from another small business owner and they made the same plea that many small business owners i've heard from in alaska have talked about. they've had health insurance for their employees for years where they've taken care of them, and yet the increases in the costs of these plans are such that the

companies won't be able to operate. so they have this huge dilemma -- continue to cover their employees they care a lot about. some have been working for them for decades. or dump them into the marketplace. because that's the only way the company can survive. that's the dilemma that this bill is putting people into. hardly a day passes i don't hear from constituents about the problems they're having. let me -- let me give you a couple examples. a family in eagle river, alaska, $1,200-a-month premium with a $10,000 deductible for affordable care. a couple in anchorage will be paying $3,131 a month in premiums, almost $38,000 a year.

here's an excerpt from a former constituent letter -- quote -- "the renewal paperwork that i just received estimated that our new payment to be just over $1,000 a month, doubling our monthly expense. what is a young family to do?" here's another constituent -- quote -- "there is nothing affordable about the affordable health care act." another constituent -- quote -- "insurance rates are killing my small business. we have tried to keep our employees and their families covered but we don't see how we can do it and continue to be in business." here's another constituent of mine. quote "please, please help us

us." begging for help. teachers, construction workers, small business owners, self-sufficient alaskans, so many of them asking for help because of what this federal government did to them. madam president, the numbers don't lie. in alaska and throughout the country, workers and families are suffering. small businesses are being squeezed, job creation is being stymied. nearly every single promise made by the president of the united states and the supporters of this bill in the congress has been broken. let me remind my colleagues what some of those were. here's one from the president -- quote -- "if you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan." here's another one from the

president, "if you like your doctor, you'll be able to keep your doctor." the law, he told the american people, means -- quote -- "more choice, more competition and lower costs for millions of americans." he told the american public that premiums would be reduced on average for americans with their health care plans by $2,500. reduced. but again, the numbers have we see don't lie. costs are soaring all over our country. for example, a bronze plan under obamacare, the least expensive insurance available on the exchange, costs on average -- now, this is national average -- $420 a month with an average

deductible of $5,653 for an individual and close to $11,600 for a family. deductible. former speaker of the house and obamacare promoter nancy pelosi pelosi -- remember speaker pelosi, with her line about how important it was to pass obamacare so we could all figure out what was in it? -- she promised that obamacare -- quotn jobs, 400,000 jobs almost immediately." that was the former speaker. let's see what the congressional budget office says about that promise. recently the c.b.o. projected that obamacare will result in 2 million fewer -- fewer -- jobs in 2017 and 2.5 million fewer

jobs in america by 2024. so obviously that promise didn't come true. promise after promise unfulfilled. it's no wonder the american people have such a low opinion of the federal government and the congress. and what of the laudable goal of health insurance for the uninsured? very laudable goal, no doubt about it. affordable health insurance for the uninsured. obamacare's barely moving the needle. today there are 35 million people who don't have health insurance. 10 years from now, according to the c.b.o., there are still going to be approximately 27 million who don't have coverage under this system. and let me get a little more specific in terms of my state.

probably no other state in the country has been more negatively damaged by obamacare than alaska. five insurance companies originally offered coverage in our exchanges in alaska, offering a glimmer of hope of what's really needed in the health care market, which is competition. today only two are left. to provide individual insurance on the health care exchange. both will be increasing premiums by approximately 40% this year. in anchorage, my hometown, the lowest level plan, a bronze pl plan, premiums are going to go up 46%. there you go. major metropolitan areas in the united states. look at the far left. that's anchorage, alaska.

46% in one year. which will make it one of the most expensive and the biggest increase in terms of metropolitan areas in the united states. let me give you another example. 40-year-old nonsmoker individual who doesn't receive subsidies will pay anywhere from $579 to $678 a month in premiums for a bronze plan with a deductible of either $5,250 for the more expensive premium or $6.850 for the less expensive premium. and remember, obamacare requires alaskans and americans to purchase these plans. remember what it did. for the first time in u.s. history, the grefs the united states told the --

the congress of the united states told the american people, you must buy a product, you have to, or you will be penalized. that brings notice the penaltie- that brings me to the penalties. because of the prohibited costs, some in alaska and many across the country have chosen to go without coverage and pay the yearly fine under obamacare. but that fine is also very expensive. so alaskans are asking and americans are asking, what's the point? what's point of having health insurance that's been forced on them by their federal government ithat they can't afford? and others are just foregoing seeing their doctors altogether. a recent gallup poll found that in 2014, 1-3 americans say that they have put off getting medical treatment that they or

their family members need because with these numbers, it's just too expensive. so they're just not going to the doctor. again, what's the point? health insurance but you can't go see your doctor because it's too expensive. that number, by the way, 1-3, is among the highest number in the gallup poll's 14-year history of posing this question. and as the costs rises -- as the costs rise, the numbers will continue to rise. so not surprisingly, given all these numbers, given that number number, a recent poll found that despite six years of being under obamacare, where the united states, our citizens were supposed to finally be comfortable with it, to understand it, to have it wor working, still 52% of americans have an unfavorable view of it. only 44% favorable.

and for alaskans, this is only going to get worse. the so-called cadillac task, one of the numerous taxes embedded in obamacare, is going to kick in in 2018. it will be devastating for individual alaskans, for union members and for small businesses across laz laz. it's been estimated that as many as 90% -- across alaska. it's been estimated that as many as 90% of alaska businesses will be faced with the increased cadillac tax. that is a tax of 40% additionally on these benefits. because many small businesses in alaska will not be able to afford this -- for example, an employer with 20 employees under the cadillac tax will pay an estimated $28 a year more --

$28,000 a year more just in taxes, just in the cadillac tax on a small business. $28,000. that could be the difference between make or break for that business. who's going to get hurt by this? small businesses. but more importantly, their employees, their workers. because those extra costs are going to trickle down for the workers, likely in form -- in the form of reduced benefits, in reduced wages and more problems with their health insurance plan. and as i mentioned, it's just not small businesses.hardworking alaskans covered under union plans will also very likely be hit by the cadillac tax. requiring them to pay much more. so will state and local government employers plan. for all of these reasons,

madam president, one of my campaign promises was to vote to repeal obamacare. and i certainly plan to do it today when we take up this reconciliation measure. now, i certainly hope it's going to pass. we get this to the president's desk. what's going to happen then? well, it's likely he's going to veto it again. i hope he looks at these numbers and recognizes what a mistake this bill was and agrees with us to work together to replace it, but he's likely going it veto it. and in doing so, he'll likely mislead americans again by claiming that obamacare is working. it's not working. let me give you another example of how it's not working. united health, one of the nation's biggest insurance companies, recently announced

that because of its huge losses, it may pull out of obamacare altogether. if united pulls out, then others are likely to follow. premera bluecross blueshield in alaska has indicated it has problems to continue sustained losses under the exchanges. as bad laws often do, obamacare contains the seed of its own destruction. but for the sake of millions of americans, thousands of alaskans who have been sold a false bill of goods, we can't simply wait to see it self-destruct. this was not the health care that was promised to americans. and we can't let it get worse. we need to act.

that's why i'm joining with my colleagues today to repeal this law, and we need to look at replacing it with one that includes provisions that are missing: tort reform, a system that you can encourage purchasing insurance across state lines, encourages patient-centered care, and allows the kind of doctor-patient relationship that has been the hallmark of american care for many, many years. contrary to what some of the others on the other side of the aisle claim, there have been many alternatives proposed to obamacare. a plan in the senate has been introduced by senators hatch and burr and congressman fred upton on the house side. it has many of these important reforms and will allow people to actually get involved in their

own health care and not watch this train wreck in terms of health care becoming unaffordable for americans throughout all the different states. madam president, when selling the law to the public, president obama talked about the fierce urgency of now. that's exactly what i'm hearing from my constituents when they write, please -- please help us. what is a young family to do? the fierce urgency of now is n now. finally, i'd like to comment on a fum o number of my colleaguese other side of the aisle who have been lamenting that this reconciliation vote that we're going to take today is going to be along party lines. they've been lamenting that this

might be some kind of partisan vote. now, madam president, as you know, this is a bit rich. it's a bit ironic. it's very important to remember that six years ago, almost to the day, in this body this legislation passed the senate and the house by a party-line vote, partisan vote. so to hear the concerns now rings a little hollow. that was not a wise move back then. one important lesson of u.s. history is that most, if not all, major pieces of legislation in the congress on important social issues have been passed with bipartisan majorities. that helps them be sustainable,

and that happens when the american people back that kind of legislation. the american people have never backed this legislation. but democracy has an interesting way of working, not always quickly but eventually. this law is not popular, it was never supported by the american people, and they are noticing. as a matter of fact, of the 60 u.s. senators who voted for this law six years ago, 30 are no longer in this chamber. that is democracy working. so we're going to take that vote again today. i'm hoping some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will join us in repealing a law that doesn't work, that's dramatically harming americans,

and we move on to health care that does, that helps us, that helps families and prevents constituents to writing their members of the senate begging for help, which is what's going on right now because of this bill. madam president, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: