Durbin Slams Republican Health Care Affordability Crisis And Their Refusal To Address It In Government Funding Debate

Durbin Slams Republican Health Care Affordability Crisis And Their Refusal To Address It In Government Funding Debate

"Donald Trump's cuts are the most heartless cuts of all," Durbin said in a speech on the Senate floor

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) delivered a speech on the Senate floor today highlighting the health care crisis that President Trump and congressional Republicans are perpetrating on the American people-including the damage done by the Republicans' cuts to Medicaid in the "Big, Beautiful Bill" and the Trump Administration's cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Republicans' reconciliation package cut $1 trillion of Medicaid funds, and the Trump Administration's FY26 budget proposal cuts NIH funding by $18 billion, 40 percent of its total budget. And now, instead of working with Democrats to extend tax credits that make health insurance premiums affordable for more than 20 million Americans, Republicans in Congress are threatening to shut down the federal government.

Durbin began his speech by outlining the importance of Medicaid for families across America and how they will be impacted by the cuts in the "Big, Beautiful Bill."

Durbin said, "Medicaid is a program which helps people who have limited income have health insurance. It also takes care of your mother and grandmother when they're in the nursing home. It's a critical element of funding health care in America, and the Republicans cut $1 trillion out of it."

Durbin then described the effects of these cuts on small and rural hospitals. Estimates suggest that more than seven hundred rural hospitals will close due to the reconciliation bill.

"The hospitals that struggle to survive are ones that have more Medicaid patients than paying insurance patients… The notion of cutting $1 trillion out of this [Medicaid] program worries them. Don't take my word for it; ask the Illinois Hospital Association," Durbin said.

Durbin continued, "In the State of Illinois we have plenty of these rural hospitals, and if one closes, it means your pregnant wife who goes into labor now has to drive 70 miles instead of 20 for that delivery. I'd hate to have to go through that, and yet that's what's going to happen... That kind of cut in Medicaid is going to hurt hospitals and hurt people across America."

Durbin went on to discuss the upcoming expiration of the Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits. These tax credits made purchasing a health plan more affordable for more lower- and middle-income individuals and families by capping maximum Marketplace premiums at 8.5 percent of a family's income. The enhanced subsidies were created in the American Rescue Plan and later extended in the Inflation Reduction Act to last until the end of 2025.

Durbin recalled his time as an uninsured father and how that experience influenced his fight for affordable health care.

Durbin said, "In my second year in law school, we learned that God was sending us a little baby… She arrived with her share of difficulties. I had no health insurance. None. What do you do as a student with a wife and a baby, and the baby's sick, when you have no health insurance."

Durbin continued, "I never felt more inadequate in my life, as a father and a husband, than not having health insurance… There were moments when I worried that I couldn't provide the basics for my baby because I didn't have health insurance. Fifteen million Americans will lose their health insurance because of the Republican budget… I wouldn't wish that on anybody."

Durbin stressed that the concerns around health care affordability are at the core of the Democratic request to keep the government open.

Durbin explained, "So when the Democrats say there are health care issues that are part of this debate of funding the government, that's what we're talking about. Keeping these hospitals open. Critical hospitals in inner cities as well as rural areas. Making sure people have their health insurance."

Durbin then went on to discuss the Trump Administration's attacks on NIH. Over the past nine months, the Administration has fired thousands of NIH employees, proposed cutting $18 billion in research funding, held up billions in medical research grant funding, cancelled potentially life-saving clinical trials, and thrown our nation's medical research infrastructure into a state of chaos.

"It's [NIH] the best medical research agency of any government in the world," Durbin said. "Over the span of 10 years, the budget for NIH medical research went from $30 billion to $48 billion… Things were happening-good news, good developments-when it came to cures and treatments. I was so proud of that effort and glad that it was bipartisan from the start."

Durbin explained that the Trump Administration's recent budget threatens to reverse all 10 years of that increase in NIH funding, bringing its funding level down to $30 billion from $48 billion. These cuts have already caused the suspension of research into diseases like Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

Durbin said, "Do you know what happens when you cut back on research that basic… When that terrible diagnosis happens at the doctor's office… You say to the doctor, 'Is there anything you can do? Is there a surgery or a medicine? Anything you can do for someone I love very much?' And they say, 'Well there is a clinical trial. There is medical research underway. And it's a long shot, but you got a chance.' It's hope. Medical research is hope."

Durbin continued, "And it's one of the areas where I think Donald Trump's cuts are the most heartless cuts of all. Democrats care about this. I do. I'm willing to fight over it… It is one of the most important things we can do in terms of helping families across America."

Durbin concluded by emphasizing the upcoming announcement of health insurance companies' premiums for 2026. These premiums are anticipated to increase by 20 percent because of Republican cuts to health care funding.

Durbin said, "As these [health insurance] premiums go up, some people won't be able to pay for them. And they'll be without health insurance, and others will see their family budget explode with an increased health insurance premium. That's the reality of this debate… It's a question of whether families across this country can count on us for the basics. Making sure that healthcare is there for America is one of the basics as far as I'm concerned."

Video of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Audio of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Footage of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.

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