VIDEO: Sen. Murray Urges Senate Republicans to Return to Bipartisan Health Care Negotiations Following Collapse of Graham-Cassidy Plan

Sen. Murray calls on Senate Republicans to immediately resume bipartisan health care process after Senate Republicans’ newest version of Trumpcare – known as Graham-Cassidy – failed to earn enough votes to pass

Graham-Cassidy plan would have hit WA especially hard all while gutting Medicaid, increasing costs for families, and erasing protections for people with pre-existing conditions

Sen. Murray: “Let’s pick back up right where we left off and let’s do it right now…because the sooner we get an agreement, the sooner we can act to stop President Trump’s sabotage and prevent premiums from increasing even further. 

***WATCH SEN. MURRAY’S REMARKS HERE***

(Washington, D.C.) –  Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Senate health committee, called on her Republican colleagues to immediately resume negotiations on improving care following Senate Republicans’ announcement this afternoon that they lacked the votes to pass the newest version of their Trumpcare plan, known as Graham-Cassidy. Sen. Murray had been working with her counterpart on the health committee, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), to stabilize the health care market and prevent premium increases for patients and families, holding weeks of bipartisan hearings with governors, insurance commissioners, medical professionals and experts before Republican leaders put these negotiations on hold in order to make one last attempt to jam through a deeply partisan bill.

Watch video of Sen. Murray’s Remarks here.

Sen. Murray’s Remarks as prepared for delivery:

We are not out of the woods yet by any means—and until Trumpcare is finally set aside, we will not stop fighting, because this last version was the worst one yet.

But thanks to the patients and families who have so bravely spoken out, and the Senate Republicans who have called for regular order and real solutions instead of a rushed, partisan process….

It sounds like the path for this latest version of Trumpcare has led to another dead end.

That is good news, so I want to again make clear that I and Democrats are ready to keep working on the bipartisan path that could actually lead to a result.

Chairman Alexander and I had been making great progress toward our goals of stabilizing the market and reducing premiums—with many members on and off our committee—until Republican leaders pulled the rug out from under us.

And now—the two weeks since our last hearing have been wasted.

Two weeks of partisanship and dysfunction.

Two weeks of threats to families, patients, and women.

Two weeks of President Trump continuing to sabotage health care and refusing to do the right thing.

And two weeks of inaction—when we could have been working to wrap up our bipartisan deal.

So here we are, two weeks later, right up against the deadline.  Insurance rates are being finalized tomorrow.

Damage has been done already—premiums are very likely to rise because of President Trump and Republican leaders—but we can still get a result that helps the people we serve.

So let’s pick back up right where we left off and let’s do it right now.

Because the sooner we get an agreement, the sooner we can act to stop President Trump’s sabotage and prevent premiums from increasing even further. 

The clock is ticking—Democrats are at the table—and I hope Republican leaders will now allow us to get back to work on lowering costs for patients and families and stabilizing the markets

We don’t have a minute to spare.