law replacement bill that would increase the number of people who are uninsured by 2 million and n 2026 for an estimated total of 49 million people uninsured compared with 28 million who would lack insurance under the current law. just a short while ago, senators, democratic senator rerks acted to the c.b.o. score led by the democratic leader, shuck schumer. senator schumer: ok, everyone. thank you for coming. i'd like to thank sara murray for being here. -- senator murray for being here. we expect senator wyden soon but i'm going to start, to discuss this jaw drop regular port from the congressional budget office. today's report confirm what is doctors, patient adhave cats, democrats and republicans have have been saying for weeks. trump care will lead to higher costs for lescare and lead to

tens of millions of americans left without any insurance. for weeks, senator republicans tried to tell us that their bill would be better than the house bill. it would be different than the house bill. many house members even said they only voted for the house bill because they said the senate bill would make it better. c.b.o.'s report today makes clear that this bill is every bit as mean as the house bill. this c.b.o. report should be the end of the road for trumpcare. republicans would be wise to read it like a giant stop sign. urging them to turn back from this path that would be disastrous for the country, for middle class americans, and for their party. there's a lot to unpack in this report but i want to look at a few key things. first, the c.b.o. makes clear that many americans would pay more, a lot more, for their

health care under the senate's trumpcare bill. just look what happens to seniors. under our current system if you're 64 years old and have an come of $56,000, you pay a plan. - a $6,800 for a under trumpcare you pay a third of your income. the c.b. ofment makes clear that the senate bill offers a bait and switch when it comes to medical costs. americans who see lower premiums would get lescare or pay even more out of pocket deductibles or other health care. so you only have two choices under this, neither good. you get lower premiums or you et higher deductibles. either way the american person loses. what good is a health care plan that has a small premium that doesn't cover any of your first

$15,000 of costs? or you have to pay 80% of the cost of hospitalization. no good at all. no good at all. so remember, the two bad choices. higher premiums, higher deductibles, and co-pays. neither one good for the average american. the dynamic would be even worse in states that now under the bill will choose to waive essential health benefits like prescription drug coverage or opioid treatment. c.b.o. estimates this will be half the population where the services they actually need will no longer be covered, leading to significant increase in out of pocket costs. so, what they give with one hand , in terms of lower pleem yum they more than take away with huge increases in out of pocket costs and slashed benefits. the bill has been hanging on by

a thread in the senate and c.b.o. shows while. but we won't rest on our laurels. this week, the american people will witness a political exercise. the majority leader will attempt to coerce the votes of his reluctant republican colleagues and any other holdouts by adjusting the dials on the legislation a bit. there will be buyout and bailouts and tweaks that will be hailed as fixes by the other side. but the truth is, the republicans cannot excise the rotten core at the center of their health care bill. no matter what tweaks they add. no matter how the bill changes around the edges, it is fundamentally rotten at the center. no matter what last-minute amendments are offered, this bill will force millions of americans to spend more of their paychecks on health care and receive fewer benefits, simply so the wealthiest of americans

can pay less in taxes. senator murray. senator murray: thank you, senator schumer. after weeks of secret negotiations between 13 male republican, after keeping democrats in the dark and hiding the details from patients and from families, all the while claiming the senate version of trumpcare would somehow be better, today's c.b.o. report makes it clearer than ever just how mean trumpcare is and why. the bottom line is, trumpcare is a minefield of higher health care costs for patients and families and it is a massive giveaway to special interests in the health care industry. depending on what state you live in if you're a senior, trumpcare will spike your premiums. if you need maternity care you could pay as much as $1,000 more per month on top of the rest of your coverage. if you need mental health care, care for a substance use dised

or ore prescription drugs, you could see your costs go up by thousands of dollars a year. that means, despite what so many of our republican colleagues claim, i want to be very clear that trumpcare guts protections for people with pre-existing conditions. because as any family will tell you, coverage that is too expensive to buy, like it very well could be under trumpcare that is no coverage at all. trumpcare raises family health care costs and -- in these ways and more while making sure that those at the top and big corporations get a handout. those are not the goals any health care bill should aim for. this certainly isn't the way we should be writing a bill that would have so much impact on the health and financial security of people across our country. i know a number of republicans have expressed concerns about trumpcare over the last few days. and i also know that republican

leaders are working as hard as they can to twist arms and cut backroom deals. i fully expect that to continue and to get even worse in the next few days. and i just hope that republicans who are rightly concerned about the impact trumpcare would have will stand strong for their constituents, take a close look at the facts on the table, recognize it is time to change course, and drop this trumpcare once and for all. it is not too late. democrats are at the table. like we always have been. if republicans are truly ready to work on policies that actually help lower costs and improve care for patients and families. because that should be the goal. enator schumer: senator wyden. senator wyden: the leader and senator murray have said it very

well. if i were to summarize it, once again, here is a republican health proposal that's going to hit millions of working people and seniors like a wrecking ball. ou just look at the numbers. $772 billion in doubts medicaid. hundreds of billions in tax breakers in wealthy and corporations. and what a lot of people haven't picked up on and i was struck over the weekend, i was struck over the weekend when i saw a number of republican senators saying that the obama tax policies in the obama health care plan were punishing the american economy. that is just nonsense. they're making retroactive the tax breaks. some pointed out, you've got a $1 million capital gain in february uric get a $38 thourblings tax break.

you're not creating any jobs. you're giving somebody a windfall. a windfall that, for example, is going to deal yet another bdy blow to the nation's older people. i have been talking to them pretty much nonstop through the weekend, the leader and i have been discussing these issues, just got off the phone with a conference call with the alliance of retired persons. they understand that medicaid is picking up the bills of two out of three seniors in nursing homes and if you're a baby boomer, for example, and you have a stroke or you get early onset of, you know, alzheimer's, forget it. you are going to be in serious risk of facing a life with lots of squalor and maybe being out on the street. the fact is, cuts of this magnitude will rip through the fabric of american society. not just seniors, kids who need

special needs services. those struggling with opioid addiction. we talked with them throughout the weekend. they are going to lose access to life-saving treatment. and to me, the most important takeaway out of this afternoon, is this is another big step back to the days when health care in america was for the healthy and the wealthy. that's what we change with the affordable care act. i'm proud to have been involved, the leader made mention of the fact, we've never been invited to any bipartisan discussions. the provision that finally protected americans from discrimination against those insurance companies that would harm them if they had a pre-existing condition, that's bipartisan. now it's being unraveled on a partisan basis. we would never be part of that the democrats -- if the

democrats were invited to participate in those talks we never would be part of that. so at the end of the day, and this leader and i sat next to each other on the finance committee for almost a decade, so it's not as if this is something new. we see this as paying tribute to fortune few the who want a tax break. that's what this is about, a big, big tax break at the expense of working class and seniors. that's why we're going to fight it. senator schumer: the hard right, which seems to be in control now, has always had two gells. one, cut taxes on the very wealthy. two, undo the safety net of social security, medicare, and medicaid and this bill takes the first big step in that direction. it's an ideological document to please the hard right. unfortunately, it badly hurts the american people. questions?

>> senator murray referenced, they're going to cut backroom deals and twist arms and things. done for obamacare was those. how can you upbraid them. senator schumer: the core of our bill was good and covered more people. the core of their bill is bad and will cover fewer people. >> can i have one point on that? in the finance committee where the two of us served, we took 14 republican amendments. senator wyden: as part of the senator finance committee markup. there aren't going to be any democratic amendments this idea that somehow this was just a repeat of what happened in 2009, that's just not right.

senator murray has already outlined, for example, the numbers of difes hearings we had, number of joint markups, i can tell you 14 republican amendments were accepted in 2009. senator schumer: i'll go after this one if you guy cans stay. >> with senators johnson and heller signaling they're going to go against a motion to proceed, how confident are democrats that you can slow it on that. senator schumer: that's our first job, to try to kill the bill, to make sure the bill doesn't pass because it does such harm ott american people. i said yesterday i think it's about 50-50. i don't count senator mcconnell out. but this is such a bad bill that even his legislative wizardry is having a rough time here. so -- and i would say this. if the bill goes down, we want to do two things. first, we would demand that the president and our republican

colleagues stop sabstadging -- sabotaging the bill. in other words, fund cost-sharing permanently right away the ininsurers themselves say that's the number one thing that destabilizes the market. c.b.o. said the markets were getting stabilized until that happened. second, we're willing to sit down and work with them. seve said this time and time again. nobody said a.c.a. was perfect. we know it needs changes. we have asked them over and every again, instead of excluding us, which they did on -- on january 4, this idea that democrats didn't want to be part of it, on january 4, they passed rescon sill -- reconciliation which said democrats take a hike. the day after we were sworn in. we have asked them over and every again. we sent a letter, signed by 48 democrats, saying here's what we want to do to improve it. i asked senator mcconnell that 100 senators meet in the old senate chamber to have a discussion. this was all rejected. they did not want us to be involved.

because i suppose their number one goal was for tax cuts on the wealthy and our party doesn't go for ta. i'm going to turn it over to patty and ron. i have to go downstairs. >> have you -- what do you do about planned parenthood? what's within the well. of -- the realm of omingses? senator murray: i think that's something we'll deal with when we come to it. the question is, will the republicans vote for a bill that cuts insurance for 22 million americans, charges seniors more, increased cuts for families, we'll see if they take that vote. senator wyden: let me add one thought to that. i've talked to the leaders about this, and senator murray, and the finance committee we'll be talking to our colleagues. our colleagues have plenty of ideas for material amendments. amendments that are hugely

important and frankly i think might generate burn support. so i'm going to continue to consult with my colleagues but i can tell you that on our side we have a number of senators who have really important, material amendments. thanks, everybody. >> and now that the congressional budget office has scored the senate health care law replacement bill, we expect senate debate all week, possibly starting tomorrow, and a reminder, too, we posted the c.b.o. score on our website, c.org -- c-span.org. all our coverage is live on c-span2, online at c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> tonight on "the communicators." >> i don't think there's any

dispute on either side of this debate that everyone is in favor of an open internet. we're in fare of some basic open internet rules that can be enforced. >> robert quinn, senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs at at&t. the largest telecom lobbying operation in washington, talks about key issues in the company's interest such as corporate tax reform, privacy, and net neutrality. he'll also discuss at&t's pr posed merger with time warner. he's interviewedy reuters tech and telecom reporter david shepherdson. >> we're going through the process, we initiated the review at the department of jus tusslaste -- justice last fall, shortly after the deal was announced, i think we kicked it off in november. we're going through a process with the department of justice. i think we've told the street we expect the deal to close by the end of the year skesm still have some foreign approvals that hang out there. we're not completely done.

some of the big poles in the tent on the approval side is we've got an operation in mexico that deal has to go through that process there. we've got operations in brazil but they're not the only ones. so we're going through a process at the department of justice right now and you know, our expectation is, you know, we should be through that process, we should be through the operational issues that we have to go through in order to be able to close without a license transfers and the foreign approval process and work on full -- i feel pretty confident we're going to be able to get through that by the end of the year. >> watch "the communicators accounts tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. >> the house debated four bills earlier on suspension of the rules, they're gaveling back in momentarily for votes on two of them, both expanding opportunities for veterans and active duty service