i'm quoting -- an the general comparison here is health care in the united states, health care coverage, uninsurance numbers, those without insurance in 2017 versus 2018. here's what it says on page two of the report under the word highlights, and i'm quoting. in 2018, 8.5% of people or 27.5 million did not have health insurance at any point during the year. the uninsured rate and the number of uninsured increased from 2017, 7.9% or 25.6 million. unquote. and then it refers to a figure and a table. so basically what is outlined here is a drop in the number of americans covered, or looking at it another way, an increase in

the number of uninsured from 25.6 million americans to 27.5 million americans. a difference of 1.9 million. just for general reference, i will round that off to say roughly two million people are uninsured who had insurance in 2018 versus 2017. so that's deeply troubling because that number is up -- the number of uninsured is up not just generally from 17 to 18 but more broadly is a change in the trend lines where we have been for most of the last decade. so i think it's pretty clear that the trump administration's sabotage of health insurance is indeed working. it's reversing coverage gains

that were made in the affordable care act in the years after enactment and implementation of the affordable care act. we're told as well that the number of uninsured children is up, so more children without insurance from 2017 to 2018. here's what one -- one observer from the kaiser health news said. his name is phil gaelowicz. and i'm quoting -- for the first time in a decade, the number of americans without health insurance has risen by about two million people in 2018, according to the annual u.s. census bureau report released tuesday, tuesday of last week. and he goes on. that's the end of the quotation, and then he goes on to cite the numbers that i just cited. here's another comment from

katie keith from health affairs, and i'm quoting katie keith in this section. quote, coverage losses are expected to continue in 2019. this is due to a number of factors including repeal of the individual mandate penalty -- that's one cause -- the expanded availability of non-a.c.a. plans, and the final, quote, public charge rule. and that's the end of that quotation. she goes on from there. a third commentator -- and these are, of course, people that spend their lives on the issue of health care. joan alker, georgetown university center for children and families. she said, quote, 4.3 million kids were insured in -- uninsured in 2018, a significant increase of 425,000, unquote.

another commentator who follows health care, nat broadus of the center on policy and priorities, said, and i'm quoting, the census data provided the clearest evidence yet that the trump administration's efforts to weaken health coverage under the affordable care act are taking a toll. they include, quote, canceling most federal outreach efforts for open -- the open enrollment period for 2018, marketplace coverage, supporting new state policies that make it harder for people to enroll or stay enrolled in medicaid, issuing results to -- rules to expand short-term and association health plans, and, fourth, creating public confusion of the a.c.a.'s future by refusing to defend its constitutionality in a lawsuit by republican state

officials, unquote. then i turned to the last reference by groups that followed this information. i will just hold this chart up. this is a chart by the -- you can see it on the bottom -- the center on budget and policy priorities. this chart depicts kind of where we have been over the decade and where we could be at the end of the decade on health care. 2009, -- this is just a reference to the uninsured rate for nonelderly americans -- that that number was over 17% in 2009. so 17.2% of americans uninsured at that time. then it fell each year especially after the a.c.a.'s

major coverage provisions took effect in 2014. you see it in 2009 and then the big drop. of course the big drop of uninsured is good news. when that chart depicts the number going down, that's obviously good news. but then you see the trump administration and the chart says trump administration sabotage has begun eroding this progress, so you see the flattening out, so now instead of a continual diminution or decline in the uninsured rate and the uninsured number, you see a kind of flattening out of that, and then you factor in the census report which documents at least for one year the increase in the number of uninsured, and then the last part of the chart says if the administration gets the courts to strike down the affordable care act, the uninsured rate would almost double, all the way up to 18.7% in 2019. now, that's, of course -- the

last part of the chart is a projection. the center on budget and policy priorities is asserting that if the lawsuit is successful in the fifth circuit court of appeals -- which we know was successful at the district court level, is now on appeal, if they were successful, this -- this think tank, the senator on budget and policy priorities says that in 2019, the number of uninsured could go up to 18.7%, surpassing where we were in 2009 when we started to pass and then implement the affordable care act, reducing substantially the number of people uninsured. if you look at it this way, roughly, roughly over six years, the uninsured number went from about 47 million americans down to about 27 million americans. 20 million-plus people gained

insurance coverage in about six years. not even a decade. six years. so, mr. president, the concern i have is that efforts undertaken by the administration are unfortunately being -- are seen as successful according to the census bureau numbers because the number of uninsured is going up at a timeheown. when you add in the lawsuit, which in my judgment i more likely to succeed than not -- i don't want it to succeed. i want it to fail, because i think it's an insult to declare the patient protection and affordable care act unconstitutional, therefore destroying protections for more than 100 million americans and ripping away coverage from so many americans such that that number of uninsured would skyrocket. why would we ever go back to the days when the number of uninsured watts that -- was that

high and potentially growing? why would we ever take any step, whether it's a lawsuit or sabotage or whatever to drive up the number of uninsured? so let me conclude with just a couple of headlines. "the new york times" dated september 11, 2019, front page -- fewer insured after attacks on health act. and you go inside the -- to the inside of the paper on page 815, that's a longer headline that says fewer are insured amid administration's attack -- attacks, plural, on the health act. "the wall street journal," a newspaper that when i last checked was not necessarily supportive of the affordable care act -- at least to early -- here's what "the wall street journal" says dated september 11, page a-3.

insured rate logs first drop in a decade. so that means the uninsured is getting larger. so, mr. president, i would say in conclusion, we need to sound the alarm about the threat to health care, sound the alarm about the threat to a growing -- a growing number of americans uninsured. and this is not even factoring in the lawsuit, which as the cht depicts, would make the uninsured skyrocket t wouldn't go up by a percentage point or two, it would go up exponentially higher. so, mr. president, i would hope that members of this body in both parties would be not only concerned about these trends and concerned about what could happen if the lawsuit were successful but would take action to prevent this dark result from

playing out for the american people, that the number of insured would explode instead of continuing to go down where americans want it to go. we want theumber of uninsured to go down. we simply want the number of uninsured children to go down. with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. i will withdraw my consent. mr. brown: thank you, senator casey, for speaking out on such an important issue. i mean, we talked yesterday actually he and i about the number of people that now have insurance in our state and his state it's over one million. in my state it's over 900,000 because of the affordable care act, because of medicaid expansion, because of other things. seniors have more -- seniors are getting more preventive care, the cost of drugs is less in spite of the fact this institution and the president do nothing to keep the price of

drugs down. we know the white house looks like a retreat for drug company executives. so this bod has not done nearly what it should. the affordable care act is so important. i appreciate senator casely -- senator casey standing up for kids. and standing up for the affordable care act, and the impact it has had on our state. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. barrasso: mr. president, for the information of senators -- the presiding officer: the? is in a quorum call. mr. barrasso: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: for the information of no the cloture vote on the compound motion to go to conference on s. 1790 will occur at this time. i ask unanimous consent that if the compound motion is agreed to, it be in order for the following motions to instruct which are at the desk. van hollen, cotton, jones, schatz, peters, mcsally, mcconnell or designee. prior to september 26. in the form of senate

resolutions taken up and considered on the same day with no amendments in order. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense the senate that the debate on the compound motion to go to conference and authorize the chair to appoint conferees on s. 1790 -- the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to disagree to the house amendment, agree to the request from the house for a conference and authorize the chair a point conferees in relation to s. 1790, an act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year

2020 for military activities of the department of defense, for military construction, and for defense activs of the department of energy, to prescribe military personnel strength for such fiscal year and for other purposes, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the compound motion to go to conference and authorize the chair to appoint conferees on s. 1790, an original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2020 for military activities of the department of defense, for military military construction and for defense activities of the department of energy to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year and forepurposes, shall be brought to the a close? the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, on this vote the yeas are 87. the nays are 7. three-fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn have voted in the affirmative. the motion is agreed to.

mr. lankford: i know of no further debate on the motion.

the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not all in favor say aye. owe posed no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. the chair appoints the following as conferees on the part of the senate. the clerk: senators inhofe, wicker, fischer, cotton, rounds, ernst, perdue, scott of florida, blackburn, reed, shaheen, blumenthal, hirono, kaine, king, heinrich, warren, peters, manchin, duckworth and jones. mr. lankford: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 417. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. opposed, no.

the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of treasury, brian mcguire of new york to be deputy under secretary. mr. lankford: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of brian mcguire of new york to be deputy under secretary of the treasury, signed by 17 senators as follows. mcconnell, cotton -- mr. lankford: i request the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lankford: i ask unanimous consent the senate be in a period of morning business.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lankford: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m., thursday, september 19. further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed and the senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the mcguire nomination. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. lankford: if there is no further business to come before the senate i ask it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.