washington journal, live at 7:00 eastern wednesday morning. join the discussion. announcer: thursday, democratic presidential candidates join a forum hosted by the league of latin american citizens at the groups annual convention in milwaukee. on the agenda, bernie sanders and elizabeth warren, pulliam castro and beto o'rourke. we'll have live coverage starting at 7 p.m. eastern thursday on c-span2. live on thursday at 9:30 a.m. eastern, the senate armed services committee will consider the nomination of army general mark millie for the chair of joint chiefs of staff. watch live on c-span3, live on c-span.org, or listen with a free c-span radio app. announcer: as the fifth circuit court takes up the constitutionality of the affordable care act, nancy

pelosi and chuck schumer held a briefing on the health care law. they were joined by other democratic lawmakers on the steps of the capital, to talk about the potential impact of the texas challenge to the law. this is just over 15 minutes. >> look. [greetings] [laughter] >> ok.

i want to thank our speaker nancy pelosi and those from the house. we are gathered because this is a critical day for the future of health care in america. today, new orleans, republican attorneys general supported by president trump and his department of justice, will argue in court that millions of americans should lose their health care, and all of the protections included in the aca. the stakes cannot be higher. imagine your parent or your child has cancer. a deadly form. there is a treatment available, but the insurance company says no, you cannot have that treatment. or we are cutting you off. what is donald trump, what are our republican friends telling that family? that you cannot get health care, and we have nothing to put in its place? shame on them. shame on them. the stakes cannot be higher.

the faces you see behind us are the faces of americans. millions of americans. who will suffer if republicans succeed in dismantling our health care law. millions of people's lives, nothing less, are on the line. if the right wing wins the lawsuit, families from one end of america to the other, will lose. lose their health care. lose important pre-existing condition protections, and lose their peace of mind. that there might be something there to make them well. it will hurt families in new york, like little emily's. a healthy, active seven-year-old. when her life dramatically changed, after she sustained a severe traumatic brain injury, from falling off a horse. in 2015. emily's recovery has been long. it has been daunting. she has had to relearn how to walk, how to eat, how to talk,

how to engage with the world around her at age seven. but her biggest challenge, her biggest challenge was her family's struggle because private insurance would only cover 60 days of rehab. thankfully, her family was given what emily's mother calls a life line. she received her care through medicaid as millions of other americans have in these types of situations. because of a.c.a. and only because of a.c.a., she knows that she doesn't have to worry that she'll be denied health care or charged prices so high that her family can't afford them. because of her pre-existing condition. she's going to live with this pre-existing condition the rest of her life.

i am, and we all, are fighting to keep emily's protections and those that millions and millions of americans not mr. trump, the very wealthy who can afford it, but average families, working families, middle class families, struggling families who desperately depend on this health care that you, president trump, and you republicans, are trying to take from them. we cannot allow it to happen. the stakes can't be higher. the bottom line is very simple. if republicans prevail, these protections are obliterated overnight. and our republican friends in the house and senate are just mum. they go home and say they want to protect pre-existing conditions and then they act to take them away and do nothing to preserve them. hypocrisy. blatant hypocrisy. so, when president trump declares the republican party will be the party of health

care, everyone knows he's full of it. don't let president trump fool you, america. donald trump and the republicans want to take away your health care. we democrats will keep fighting tooth and nail to protect americans' health care for as long as it takes. and we will not stop until we succeed. [laughter] [applause] [applause] ms. pelosi: thank you, mr. leader. thank you, mr. leader. thank you, leader schumer, for bringing us together here on the steps of the united states senate to speak out on behalf of all of the american people. i'm pleased to be here with you and the distinguished senator,

former house member, senator jacky rosen, who was a champion for health care in the house and now in the senate and what colin allred, a freshman member, who i will talk about in a moment, and his role in all this from day one as a member of congress. today house and senate democrats are here to show that human stakes of the g.o.p.'s relentless assault on health care. as oral arguments are being heard today in g.o.p.'s texas versus u.s. lawsuit, we gather to give voice to the hardworking americans through health and economic security are in jeopardy. today the trump administration is demanding that the court strike down every last provision of the a.c.a. protecting protections for over 130 million americans with pre-existing conditions. and their families. bans on lifetime and annual limits. as the leader mentioned, that can be a very, very -- have a devastating impact financially as well as health wise for a family.

the medicaid expansion, again, as the leader mentioned, medicaid expansion in the a.c.a. very important to people born with a -- babies born with pre-existing conditions and families otherwise. savings for seniors on prescription drug costs, the premium assistance that makes health coverage affordable for millions of american families. as you-all know the affordable care act extended benefits to 20 million people who did not have health care before and that was very, very important. a major achievement in itself, but that was not the full extent of the bill. 130 million americans have pre-existing conditions. and they are affected by this law. what's interesting about it is during the campaign across the country the republicans were saying, we are for preserving the pre-existing medical condition. and yet they vote over and over again to prevent it. and now they are taking it to court. the reason they have -- they think they have a chance in

court is because what they did on the horrible g.o.p. tax scam bill where they undermined the affordable care act there. so every chance they get they try to undermine the health and economic security, financial security of america's working families. the a.c.a. is a pillar of health and economic security. standing alongside medicare, medicaid, and social security. but the g.o.p. is showing that they want to destroy the affordable care act for america's families. with the leadership of collin allred, and our outstanding freshman class, our majority voted on day one to show the full legal weight of the house against this disastrous g.o.p. lawsuit. but more than 190 republicans that day voted to be fully complicit in the administration's attempt to tear away health protections.

families across the nation have called on congress to protect our care. house democrats are fighting for them. may i pay tribute to the mobilization on the outside, our inside maneuvering is very important to pass legislation, but we cannot succeed without the outside mobilizations of so many patient advocacy groups, little lobbyists, so many groups united in collaborating to protect our care. i thank them for their leadership and success. democrats will continue to fight for the people to lower health care costs and the cost of prescription drugs and protect people with pre-existing conditions. i want to call your attention and so proud that so many colleagues in the house and senate are here with their example. we all have so many to choose from because there are so many examples in our constituencies. i am here with jonah, my

constituent in san francisco. jonah is 11 years old and will enter the 6th grade this fall. on april 11, 2017, his life dramatically changed when he was diagnosed with type one diabetes. it's been a hard adjustment, especially as he has a phobia of shots, but he is trying to continue to live a normal life. he is a brown belt in tae kwon do and plays piano. he's a lovely young man. imagine that this descended upon their family in april of last year. every family in america is one phone call, one diagnosis, one accident away from being slaves to pre-existing conditions. the costs that they incur and more importantly, the toll they take on the health of family members. it is really important that the court honor its precedent when

it ruled in favor of the affordable care act in a previous occasion. now it is my privilege to yield to the distinguished senator from nevada, as i mentioned, a former member of the house of whom we are very proud, senator jacky rosen. [applause] senator rosen: thank you, madam speaker. leader schumer, thank you all for being here today. i want to point out to you my picture. this is elsie. she's 8 years old. she loves to read. she loves to play outside and right after elsie was born, she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. a life threatening genetic disease that affects thousands of people across the united states. this debilitating disease makes it incredibly difficult for elsie and thousands of other americans to do something just as simple as breathing. and what's even more tragic, is

that more than half the patients with cystic fibrosis don't live to see the age of 30. it takes a lot to treat c.f. elsie takes over 100, 100 pills a week to treat her disease, aid her digestion, maintain her nutrition levels. and that doesn't take into account medication and medical equipment she needs to keep breathing. this is elsie's routine when she's healthy. when she's sick with another illness or infection, the treatments are more difficult, more painful, more expensive. however, elsie is fortunate that she has a loving and dedicated family that continue to fight for elsie's health and that's why we are here today. that's what we all must do for elsie and for countless others. millions of people living with pre-existing conditions like elsie are at risk of losing affordable, quality care if the a.c.a. is struck down. no child, no adult for that matter, should be deprived of

basic health coverage they depend on to stay alive. elsie and her family, they refuse to give up. and they are the reason that we are not giving up, either. we must fight to give elsie and her family that breath of fresh air she struggles to take every moment of every day. we must fight for the 20 million people at risk of losing their coverage if this a.c.a. is repealed. millions of people depend on us, they sent us here to protect their health care, that's what i'm doing. that's what we are doing. thank you. [applause] >> good afternoon, thank you, speaker pelosi, leader schumer, and senator rosen for leading the charge in this fight. it's an honor to be here fighting alongside you for american's health care.

we are here today because of a cynical, partisan attack on our health care. the health care of hardworking americans in our federal courts. the reality is this administration's careless lawsuit will rip away care from millions. that's why in my first day in congress i introduced a resolution that put the united states house of representatives on the side of the people to protect our health care. rep. allred: i was honored to be join in that might by many of my colleagues here today. my home state of texas has the highest uninsured rate in the country. in my home of dallas county, one in five people don't have health insurance. if this attack succeeds, this lawsuit will send us spiraling backwards and harm hundreds of thousands of texans. the fight to protect pre-existing conditions is personal to me. my mother is a breast cancer survivor. my wife and i just celebrated the birth of our son who is 5 months old, those are both

pre-existing conditions. i have told the story many times, but two years ago on the day the house voted to repeal the affordable care act, i met natalie, a young mother, who was spending her final weeks fighting cancer to advocate, to protect the affordable care act. and with it, the vital protections for people with pre-existing conditions like hers. natalie was fighting so future mothers like her would be able to know their children. so that they wouldn't have to worry about getting the coverage and care they need. sadly, we lost natalie last year. stories like hers are all too common. stories like the rose family. i met rob rose at the veterans resource center opening when he wrote into my office to share his story after the president decided to attack the affordable care act in federal court. rob used to work in sales, but when his company downsized they

let him go. rob ultimately decided to retire early. but he wasn't yet eligible for medicare. because of the affordable care act, he was able to find a plan that worked for him during this transition period in his life. he's now on medicare, but his wife is still on the individual market plan. though her premiums are too high, rob told us this plan gives them peace of mind as debbie waits until she is eligible for medicare next year. he wrote to me, it's very important to provide older americans that are not yet medicare eligible, with the way to buy insurance that actually works. this is an example of why we can't go backwards. we must work together to lower the cost of health care for american families like the roses. i urge this administration, my colleagues in the house and senate, to end this partisan attack on our health care and to work with us to protect protections for people with

pre-existing conditions, and make sure that every american family gets the care they need. the american people are counting on us to get things done. that's why they sent us here. we have to stop the sabotage, this infighting. it's hurting families like the roses. and we are so much better than this. thank you so much. [applause] senator schumer: for every one you heard about, there are scores back here and millions in america. we are going to hold up our sign so you can see them. it's they that it's all about. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or

commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] announcer: c-span's washington journal, live every day with news and issues that impact you. coming up wednesday morning, board members of the one country project, including former north dakota democratic senator heidi heitkamp, talk about their group's campaign to reinvigorate democratic parties relationships with rural issues and voters. representative who serves on the and budget committee will discuss spending and the effort to avoid a government shutdown. also, emily martin, from the national women's law center will discuss efforts to close the gender pay gap. be sure to watch c-span's washington journal, live at 7:00 eastern wednesday morning. join the discussion.

announcer: live, wednesday, on the c-span networks. the u.s. house begins work on the 2020 defense authorization bill. that is 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. at 9:30 a.m. on c-span two, the u.s. senate continues work on judicial and executive nominations. on c-span3 at 10:00 a.m., the house financial services committee see hears from jerome powell -- on monetary policy. at 2:30 p.m., house oversight subcommittee examines the conditions of migrant children in federal facilities and of the u.s. mexico border. next, the oral argument in a case challenging the affordable care act. specifically the legality of the individual mandate, which requires all americans to have health concerns. the