other nations now enjoy. a that says we are strong enough, wealthy enough, noble enough to have a system of health care that serves everyone one of our people. we are at a crossroads. will we go forward to the day where every american has access to health care or will we allow a republican bill that tries to back?s i think we will not go back. we must go forward and we must fight every day until we have justice in this country for all. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] committeeate finance hold a hearing monday on the caret republican health plan. that is like monday morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern. more on the plan senate republican leaders were joined by senators graham and cassidy. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute,

which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> good afternoon, everyone. i suspect you already know we spent lunch talking about graham cassidy. but the interest in the bill the senators have been working on. i asked them to join us today and lead off. how about it? >> i have never felt better about where we are at. it is pretty clear to me where the country is going under obamacare and berniecare. it is going into further bankruptcy. more decisions further away from where you live. lost money for welfare reform and it works like a charm. we put governments in charge of the programs.

socialism or federalism because your health care? 4% of the money under obamacare. they represent 20% of the population. our goal is to make sure every nation or every state gets the same contribution roughly from the federal government and allows people in your state to make decisions that would have been made in washington. the most beneficial aspect of this bill is as follows. if you do not like obamacare, who do you complain to? you can complain to me that i sure as hell don't run it. if i can get south carolina in charge of this money that would have been spent in washington by a bureaucrat who is unelected, i promise every south carolinian the following, someone will listen to you. your governor and your steakhouse representative. if you go to the statehouse

representative, who likely go to the same hospital you do. you can go to your governor who will listen to you because they care about your vote nothing else -- vote if nothing else. i'm trying to take the money and power in washington and send it closer to the patient. if you think government closer to the people is the best government, why not help you -- why not healthcare? we will have a single-payer health care system that will ration the budget like you have never seen. obamacare is feeling for a reason. it is a bad idea. state-controlled health care because the people in turkey will be accountable to you, unlike obamacare with a person in charge could give a damn of what you think. >> and 25 years, i treated patients and louisiana's hospital. n louisiana's hospital.

when a fellow back home, a special needs child, tells me he is paying $45,000 a year in the system isow failing. i spoke to the jimmy kimmel test. it is almost beyond their reach. they cannot afford his insurance coverage. that is not the way it should be. we attempt to take all the dollar's in washington dc and ou so thet -- doll it statet can take it. if you are an estate that has not expanded medicaid, you will do great. for all the virginians, missourians, who have dollars in their state --

if you are a state that has medicaid, we do not want to hurt folks. we run it through the chip program. i hear no one complained about this program. it is something on a bipartisan basis that has been recognized to be an effective way to provide access to quality care to those in need. we take it through the chip program. we continue patient protections. that the ensure secretary that they continue to provide adequate and affordable withage for those pre-existing conditions. that is our back style. we preserve mental health parity. we give the dollars to the states. we can look at the things the states have done. some of which were slashed by obamacare. in maine, there is a visible high risk law. knowing premiums by 20% seems to be the policy going forward.

they can the power to purchase their own services. i am a doctor. for 25 years. -- caring those who for those who didn't have coverage. i think graham-cassidy does a better job than status quo. >> i would like for the senators to handle. he said you have never been in a better state with this before. you know almost every repeal and get between 46ll or 47 republican guesses -- y eses. that is not that much better than july. >> at the end of the day, we

need 50 votes. if you're a republican, chances are you believe in federalism. if you don't, you probably are not a republican. the last effort to repeal and replace obamacare was better than a obamacare but it did not embrace the concept bill was talking about. i believe most republicans like the idea of state-controlled health care versus washington, d.c. controlled health care. -- oyer investments assessments are going out next month by the end of 2017. businesses will get a notice from the federal government over is 4.8 billion dollars. a lot of republicans would like to stop that from happening. the best way to do that is to repeal the individual mandate nationally so states can reimpose its. we come upon an idea that is uniquely republican but over time has proved to work in other areas, like welfare reform. the democratso be that voted against more money

for my stay and more power and keep the status quo. if you are a democrat, let us say in missouri, you are going to get far more money under this proposal then obamacare and your state would have more control over the money. to reject that money and that control means you believe that somebody in washington cares more about people in missouri than people in missouri. you believe it is ok to have california, new york, maryland, and massachusetts more than misery. that is what a democrats would have to face if they voted no. and youre a republican go against federalism, you have to explain to people back home andwashington knows better almost every state except for i four ied -- the

described, do very well. i think the idea is more powerful. i think the substance is much more fair. at the end of the day, i believe we will get 50 republican votes. there will be a lot of democrats struggling with the no vote because at least eight of them are staged to do far better then obamacare in terms of funding and they will have more control over the money. that will be a hard know. -- hard no. the coverage will be on the cash aspect of it. they will have a chance to look at that. do all understand we would have to do this before september 30. that is the answer. we will have to deal with it

because the vehicle expires at the end of the month. if we were going to go forward, we would have to act before september 30. we're in the process of discussing all of this. the opportunity expires at the end of the month. >> mitch mcconnell and the did everything they could. i spoke to speaker ryan and he said if he serves as a house it will pass. every republican out there believe that if a fundamental reason we are in charge. democrats have lost a lot the of seats- lost a lot

backing a bad idea. se want to try to make patient -- i would argue yes, we should because i do not want to go back to south carolina and say that i to repealhing i could a obamacare and not believe in my heart. if you pass it, we pass it. display has been out there for a couple of months. had to convince americans this to better health care and it is not just a last stitch attempt? >> i think you heard the arguments. it is better than the status quo by far. i think that is an argument we are comfortable of making.

that would be fine. bigou know, the next priority is tax reform. i think it will be just fine. senator graham is raising a lot of concerns on the process. given the timetable, do you think you'll address the concerns? >> we have a hearing scheduled on monday. objected to the amendment. my friends on the other side love processes when it advantages them. there will be a public hearing. you can have different opinions about the quality of this bill. at the end of the day, this is

the only process left available to stop a march toward socialism. heavens will now be -- we have now and the end of the month to have a bill that is better than the status quo. my friends on the other side are never going to agree to a bipartisan proposal that does anything other than prop up obamacare. i have talked to the president five times in the last two days. he is focused like a laser. excited about this stage-centric -- state-centric health care system. the process left is the democratic party will not give us anything that fundamentally changes obamacare. we have hadg an the only time they have gotten serious is when they are afraid my bill might pass. now they are coming to me with what about this and what about that. i will not bng