In Senate floor remarks on Thursday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) warned of Medicaid cuts in the GOP budget resolution.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Democratic Whip.
00:03Madam President, this has been an amazing week in the United States Senate, and I've served here for over 25 years.
00:10Just two days ago, our colleague Cory Booker from the state of New Jersey ended a filibuster on the floor after 25 hours.
00:24Broke the record. Longest speech in the history of the Senate.
00:28And an impassioned speech it was. I was happy to be here for a major part of it.
00:33There was a big celebration on our side of the aisle, and the galleries were filled in a way I've never seen before, cheering Cory Booker for his achievement.
00:43It's a moment when all of us who serve in the Senate, lucky enough to serve in the Senate, will remember the rest of our lives.
00:51But I remember another moment that affected more people than this miraculous feat by Cory Booker.
00:59It was July 28th of 2017. It was 2.30 in the morning.
01:06I was seated at this desk, and a historic vote was about to take place.
01:14The vote was whether or not we would keep the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as it was known then.
01:22Extending health insurance to millions of Americans, some of whom never had it.
01:27At the time, President Trump was in office, and he and the majority of Republicans were determined to eliminate the Affordable Care Act.
01:36To eliminate the insurance that millions of American families depended on to protect their kids and themselves.
01:43It was the closest possible vote. In the end, at least three Republican Senators voted to save the Affordable Care Act.
01:54But the one key vote, and the one I remember, was John McCain.
01:59John McCain, an extraordinary man, served this country in ways that we can hardly ask anyone else to serve.
02:07Prisoner of war for over five years during Vietnam.
02:11Came battling back and elected the U.S. Senate from Arizona.
02:16And he was a real maverick.
02:18You never knew where John was going to end up, but you always wanted to end up with him if you could.
02:23Because it was always a spirited contest, and he usually won it.
02:28And this vote was dragged out for a long period of time at 2.30 in the morning, for goodness sakes.
02:34And somebody said, John McCain is the last person to vote.
02:40But he's been called off the Senate floor to go into a room behind and take a telephone call from Donald Trump.
02:48Donald Trump, President in his first term, was asking John McCain to cast the deciding vote to eliminate the Affordable Care Act.
02:56Health insurance coverage for millions of Americans.
02:59Madam President, I sat here and I watched as John McCain came in from that phone call.
03:04And no one knew what he was going to do. Really, no one knew.
03:08John was the kind of person you could never quite be sure.
03:11And he walked in the well near the table where the Republicans gathered for votes.
03:16And he stood there, and he barely raised his left arm because it was broken while he was a prisoner of war.
03:23Just enough to get his thumb up and go, no. No. That was it.
03:31John McCain, with that no vote, saved the Affordable Care Act.
03:36And millions of Americans' health insurance was protected.
03:40This was during Trump's first administration.
03:43And he had other priorities, and they certainly didn't include Obamacare.
03:48He wanted to eliminate it.
03:50John McCain's courage came through that night.
03:53He broke with his party because he knew what was at stake.
03:57He knew that for millions of Americans there was no alternative when it came to health insurance.
04:02It was the Affordable Care Act or nothing.
04:05And he had the guts to vote no.
04:08Oh, he was pilloried and criticized by the Republican faithful from one end of the country to the other.
04:15But those of us who believe he did the right thing will never forget that moment of courage.
04:21In a strange way, today, Thursday, April 3, 2025, we are returning to that moment in history.
04:30The Republicans under President Trump in his second term want to perpetuate his tax cut
04:37that he gave primarily to the wealthiest people in America
04:42and add to it at the expense of health care for America.
04:48When we talk about health care in America, one of the programs that is so critical is called Medicaid.
04:55In days gone by, Medicaid was a rarely used health insurance plan for the poorest and disabled people in America.
05:03But it's changed. It's become much different.
05:07And let me tell you why that's an interesting context for where we stand now.
05:11Many Americans from coast to coast follow the stock market today.
05:16The reaction of the stock market to the Trump tariff tax.
05:21And the chaos that's been created since he announced we were going into a trade war with virtually every nation on earth.
05:28They watch carefully as the stock market reacted to it today.
05:32The Dow Jones average, which is supposed to be an indicator of the state of the economy, lost 4% of its value today.
05:41I don't know what that means for most people, but I know that most people watch it
05:46because it involves their own retirement plans, ours and 401Ks and other plans that they have based on the value of stock.
05:58There has to be a sinking feeling, I'm sure there is in many households and families across America,
06:04to see so much of value that they've saved up for a lifetime disappear in one day, reacting to the Trump tariff tax
06:12and what it meant across the country.
06:15And here we come this evening, the same day as this Dow Jones plunge of 4%, to discuss what?
06:22Health care again, under President Trump.
06:26And this time it's connected to retirement and savings and the future of a lot of families.
06:33Let me tell you a story about one.
06:36I'm going to try to mask the details because I don't want anyone to reflect on the actual person.
06:42But he's a friend of mine and he's a professional in Illinois.
06:46Wonderful guy, community leader, and he had a beautiful family.
06:54Still does for that matter.
06:57But his wife developed Alzheimer's.
07:00This lovely woman reached the point where she had to be put into a care facility to take care of her day to day.
07:09It breaks my heart to even think about it, but it was a fact.
07:14He didn't see it coming, there's no way he could have.
07:17But for years now, she has survived physically,
07:21while mentally she has deteriorated to the point where she cannot communicate with him or others.
07:27It's an expensive undertaking, that type of care facility.
07:31He can afford it, but many people can't.
07:34So what do they do?
07:36What happens when your mother or grandmother,
07:39when someone you dearly love in your family reaches a point where they need this kind of care?
07:45Well, you do what you can, the best you can with your own savings and your own resources.
07:50But ultimately, the major source of funding for people who are in these facilities is Medicaid.
07:58If you cut Medicaid reimbursement, it limits the opportunity for these people to get good professional care.
08:05People you love, people whose broken your hearts because of their illness,
08:11but you want to give them the very best in the parting years of their lives.
08:15So when you cut Medicaid, which is going to be proposed by this Republican budget resolution,
08:20it's at the expense of families' peace of mind and resources they've saved for their own future, their own retirement.
08:28That isn't the only one.
08:30In the state of Illinois, half of the children who are born in the state are paid for by the Medicaid system.
08:36What happens if you cut back on Medicaid reimbursement in those cases?
08:41It means less prenatal care, the likelihood, I'm sorry to say,
08:47that kids, some, will be born with problems that could have been avoided,
08:51and more seriously, whether or not these children will even survive birth.
08:55That's what Medicaid is all about.
08:58We're talking about cutting health coverage for those in care facilities
09:05as well as those in hospitals who are giving birth.
09:09Why? Why would the Republicans even suggest that we cut this?
09:13Just like they did years ago when John McCain cast that deciding vote.
09:17Why under a Trump presidency do they go after health care first?
09:21Why is that their target?
09:24They believe that the vulnerable people who receive this kind of health care assistance won't be able to fight back.
09:30And they are desperate to raise more revenue for what purpose?
09:35To give tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America.
09:39For goodness sakes.
09:42Elon Musk does not need a tax cut.
09:45He's a multi, multi-billionaire, the wealthiest man in the world.
09:49Why in the world would we cut back on any kind of health care for Americans
09:53to give a man in that station in life a tax break?
09:57And that's what it's all about.
09:59But there's more to the story.
10:02I'm honored to represent Illinois.
10:04I love the whole state.
10:06It's where I was born.
10:08And I'm honored to represent the great city of Chicago.
10:11Oh, it's controversial.
10:13There's some people downstate Illinois say they'd go off and be in their own state.
10:16We're tired of them. I'm not one of those people.
10:18I am proud of the fact that Chicago is part of our state.
10:21But my roots are in downstate Illinois.
10:24I was born in East St. Louis, raising my family in Springfield.
10:27I have lived in and represented the smaller communities downstate in the rural areas.
10:32That's how I got to Congress in the first place.
10:34And that's how I stayed in the United States Senate.
10:37What are these cuts that the Republicans are proposing in Medicaid going to do
10:41to rural and downstate Illinois and other rural and downstate areas around the nation?
10:47The reality is very clear.
10:50Fewer resources to hospitals in sparsely populated areas
10:55mean that many of those hospitals will not survive.
10:58Today, more than half of those hospitals are hanging by a thread, operating in the red.
11:03And to cut Medicaid reimbursement to those hospitals
11:07is literally going to close their doors and turn out their lights.
11:10How important is a little hospital in a community downstate?
11:16It is the economic engine.
11:18It is the hub of life for the economy of that area.
11:22To take away that hospital, and it not only endangers the people living around it,
11:26it also means a lot of jobs are lost, too,
11:29and businesses that those people frequent often are going to be threatened as well.
11:36So why would we cut Medicaid reimbursement and close these downstate hospitals
11:41to give a tax break to the wealthiest people in America?
11:44It makes no sense.
11:46Where are our priorities?
11:48Where is our humanity to even consider that?
11:51I don't understand, on the other side of the aisle,
11:54how Republican senators, many of whom represent small-town America, too,
11:58and really care in their hearts about it, can stand by and let this happen.
12:03The net result of this is going to be the quality of life threatened
12:06by the people who live in those areas.
12:09I want to tell you a story about a community that I visited 2 weeks ago, 2 communities.
12:15One was Taylorville, Illinois.
12:17And I asked the hospital administrator in Taylorville,
12:20which is about 30 miles from Springfield,
12:23to come and invite other hospital administrators from the area
12:26and tell me what the Medicaid cuts proposed by the Republicans
12:30to give tax breaks to the wealthy will mean to these hospitals.
12:34To a person, they said the same thing.
12:36They may survive, but it's a big question.
12:39And what difference will it make?
12:41Well, in some of these hospitals, it means that instead of 30 minutes' drive
12:46from the hospital to deliver the baby, it'll be an hour and 30 minutes.
12:51I can still remember our first babies in my family.
12:55The thought of being in a car for an hour and a half with my wife in labor
12:59would scare me to death.
13:01But that would be the reality for many people,
13:04and alternatives are just not available.
13:06Why in the world would we reach a point where we would cut that kind of coverage,
13:11that kind of protection, that peace of mind,
13:13to give tax breaks to the wealthiest people?
13:16It makes no sense.
13:18Medicaid and the CHIP program cover nearly 40 million children,
13:22half of all the kids in America.
13:25Medicaid provides health coverage for 60% of seniors in nursing homes,
13:29the ones I mentioned earlier,
13:31and it's the largest funder of addiction and mental health treatment.
13:36I will tell you, I know the cases pretty well
13:40of people who are desperate for addiction treatment.
13:43They realize that they are addicted, they realize they have a problem,
13:46and they're anxious to get started in cleaning their lives up.
13:50Medicaid is the source of funding for that kind of counseling,
13:54and to cut back on that is to really sentence these people to a lifetime of fear
14:00and sadly cost many of their lives.
14:03In Illinois, 3.4 million people are enrolled in Medicaid, 1.5 million children.
14:09Under Republican plans to slash Medicaid,
14:12775,000 adults in Illinois who gained health insurance
14:16thanks to the Affordable Care Act,
14:18the same one that John McCain saved in the first Trump presidency,
14:22would lose their coverage almost overnight.
14:26How would you like to be in a situation
14:28where you don't have health insurance at a critical moment?
14:32I know. I was there.
14:35I was a student at Georgetown Law School,
14:37got married in my second year,
14:39and God sent us a beautiful little baby girl right away.
14:43We were so happy, and then a few weeks after she was born,
14:47we learned she had a serious congenital heart defect.
14:51I was a law student.
14:53I didn't have much income, and I had no health insurance.
14:56So my wife and I took our little baby girl over to Children's Hospital
15:00here in Washington, D.C.
15:02We sat in the charity ward,
15:04and we waited until our name was called,
15:08and we saw a doctor who I prayed to God
15:10would be able to save my baby's life.
15:13I never felt more helpless in my life than I did at that moment
15:17to have this little girl come into this world,
15:20and her father couldn't provide health insurance.
15:24Luckily, she survived.
15:26Great people did great favors for our family that I'll never forget.
15:31I've never forgotten that whenever there's a health crisis or health issue
15:36that's debated on this floor.
15:39All of us want good health insurance,
15:41and to cut the programs for no reason
15:44other than to give tax breaks to the wealthiest people
15:47makes no sense whatsoever.
15:49It is not sensible. It's not thoughtful.
15:51It is not humane.
15:53That is what this debate is all about.
15:55Are we going to protect health insurance for Americans
15:58so that they have some peace of mind that they have access to good care,
16:02or are we going to cut them off, tell them they're on their own,
16:05whether it's mental health counseling, addiction counseling,
16:09the birth of a child, or basic health care?
16:12That's what's at stake here.
16:14That is what is at stake.
16:16And so I would plead with my colleagues,
16:19and I know that it's unlikely.
16:21I've seen the votes.
16:23I know the discipline, party discipline.
16:25I've seen it on my side of the aisle.
16:27I'm sure it's on the other side of the aisle.
16:29But I'm praying to God there's going to be one or two John McCains
16:33who are going to step forward
16:35and lift their hand enough to vote
16:38and save health insurance for Americans across the board.
16:43I know that some people will be unhappy.
16:45In fact, some may threaten to defeat you politically because of it.
16:49But I'm sure that after John voted no and saved the Affordable Care Act,
16:54despite President Trump's telephone call in his first term,
16:57John had the satisfaction of knowing that for millions of Americans,
17:01he was the man and his vote was the vote that made the difference.
17:05It might have denied some tax breaks for some wealthy people,
17:09but for others it gave them peace of mind.
17:12John was just enough of a maverick to be willing and able to do it.
17:16He will be fondly remembered in history as a result.
17:19So, Madam President, I'm going to close by saying
17:22that this is an issue that's near and dear to my heart,
17:25and I think to a lot of other people, too.
17:27They've gone through experiences much like my own,
17:30and I know they realize that we have few moments of opportunity
17:33and service in the Senate to really make a difference
17:37in the lives of American families,
17:39to give hope to people who have given up
17:42because of a mother who's in a nursing home
17:45or because of a child with an illness.
17:47I received letters, Sophia, a single mom from Palatine, Illinois,
17:51at 14 years of her age, she gave birth to a baby boy.
17:55Her son was born with many medical complications.
17:58He had to undergo two surgeries in his first day of life.
18:03Can you imagine?
18:05By the age four, he had undergone eight separate surgical procedures
18:09to address ongoing medical challenges.
18:11How did Sophia Palatine afford the life-saving care for her son?
18:16He was covered by Medicaid.
18:19I went to my office.
18:20She said, I don't want Medicaid.
18:22My son needs Medicaid.
18:24I could not be able to afford the thousands of dollars of medical care
18:27to keep him alive without it.
18:30Amber from Springfield told my office in no uncertain terms,
18:33you cut Medicaid and you endanger my sick child's life.
18:38That's what it is.
18:39It's a life-and-death issue.
18:41It's not for how many dollars you're going to have left over
18:44when you file your taxes.
18:46It's a life-and-death issue that we're debating.
18:49I want to thank those who have spoken this evening already,
18:53Senator Schumer, Senator Merkley, for their leadership on this issue.
18:57And I just plead with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle,
19:00please, there's got to be someone over there who will step up
19:03and have a McCain moment that will save health care for millions of Americans.
19:08I'm praying that it happens.
19:10I yield the floor.
19:13Madam President.
19:15Senator from Wisconsin.