amazing opportunities are unfolding before us. tostrengthen our community, rebuild our community. if we all worked together and put our country forward, anything is possible. let us is sees this moment to and make the most of this incredible opportunity for national renewal. may god bless the men and women of the military and may god bless the united states of america, the country we love. >> and this is chris murphy, senator from connecticut. it was quite a scene thursday morning. led to a rand paul pack of reporters in and out of every corner on a hunt for the secret room where congressional republicans were of allegedly keeping their repeal and replace bill. why does spectacle?

because republicans are keeping their proposals secret even from their own members and staff. now, this is a bill that would yank insurance away from the american people and remake 16 stop the american economy. it would tax employer health plans, driving everyone's insurance costs up. it is no surprise the republicans are hiding this bill. i mean, think of it this way. politicians generally love praise and cameras. if republicans thought their plans would get praise, they would let in the cameras. health care is not a game. it's not about politics. it's about real people. and ultimately, the repeal of the affordable care act would hurt millions of real people in real ways. people like my friend john. he is a true american inspiration.

john lives in connecticut. he was born with cystic fibrosis and he tells the story of how health care is the most important thing to him in the world. it's more important than his job. it's more important than his friends. he struggles every day just to live and the only way he survives is by taking expensive medications that allow him to continue to breathe, that allow his lungs to function amidst this crippling disease. john, he tells it like it is. without the affordable care act that allows him to get affordable health care, he would die. as john sees it, probably within months of losing insurance. and john's story is not unique. without it, millions of americans would go without health care or go bankrupt if the affordable care act is taken away. now, republicans like to tell the story about how the affordable care act is unraveling. it is a fiction they created. sure, we can improve it, but 20 million americans have health care today that would not have it without the affordable care act.

surveys show 85% of them are satisfied with their care under the aca. no one goes bankrupt anymore because of health care costs, and seniors are paying less for drugs under medicare than before the bill was passed. the affordable care act is working for john and millions more. but every day republicans push the repeal plan, they undermine it. even worse, president trump issued one of his infamous executive orders, demanding his apart thetart to pull affordable care act's protections immediately, even before a repeal bill is passed. republicans are trying to destroy the health care reform loss of they never have to pass a repeal bill. but whether republicans repeal the law or destroy it, it is all bad news for patients. without the affordable care act, americans with pre-existing health conditions like diabetes or mental illness will either get denied insurance or have to

pay a crazy amount of money. insurance companies can reinstate lifetime caps on your annual benefits, meaning that they can cut you off just when you need benefits. this might all be good news for the health insurance companies and that's probably what they told president trump when they huddled with him in the oval office last week. but if the president was meeting with patience, instead of health would tellos, they him to work with republicans and democrats, both parties, to keep what works in the -- in the book air act am i fixed the parts that could use improvement. sure, republicans, they recall -- they control everything in washington right now. the white house, the house of representatives, the senate. but they could choose to reach out to democrats and we can work together to make this law better to reduce costs, increase choice. we can do that together. it's not too late.