Wyden Opposes Nomination of O’Neill to be HHS Deputy Secretary Ahead of Floor Vote
As Prepared for Delivery
Watch a video of Wyden deliver his remarks here
I rise to urge a no vote on Jim O’Neill to be the deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. O’Neill’s nomination comes before the Senate as Republicans push ahead on an agenda that will cut Americans’ health care by more than a trillion dollars and cause 16 million Americans to lose their health coverage.
The bill is filled with ideas straight out of the for-profit insurance industry’s playbook. Republicans are rolling out more red tape at a time when Americans are already sick of jumping through hoops so insurance companies can continue to post profits.
This bill is also a disaster for seniors. A million low-income seniors will see their Medicare premiums go up by nearly two hundred dollars a month.
The bill will make nursing homes less safe for frail seniors because it rolls back staffing standards. In a word, they are starting to take the nurses out of nursing homes. If Mehmet Oz had his way, nursing homes would replace staff with AI bots - that’s not going to work for a senior who needs help getting to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
The bill will hurt hundreds of thousands of seniors and kids with disabilities by reducing services for those who count on Medicaid to get care at home.
Americans have heard a lot about Medicaid in this debate, but the bill is such a deficit buster that it will trigger $500 billion dollars in Medicare cuts. This is going to hit rural hospitals like a wrecking ball.
This comes on top of the Trump administration stepping back from tough negotiations with Big Pharma that would lower the cost of medicine.
Here’s the truth: Trump and Republicans are willing to kick millions of people off their health insurance and hurt older Americans so they can give tax breaks to corporations and the ultra-wealthy.
I pressed Mr. O’Neill in the Finance Committee to give a straightforward yes or no answer on whether he will oppose cutting Medicaid during his confirmation hearing. All he could do was repeat the same tired talking points about how only certain groups of people deserve health care. The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are simply unwilling to defend this bill, because they know it is morally bankrupt. It’s easier to just lie about what’s in it.
Mr. O’Neill has gone out of his way to defend Robert Kennedy’s disastrous approach to preventable infectious diseases, like measles. To make matters worse, Mr. O’Neill expressed his support for Kennedy’s appalling views about the livelihoods of Americans with autism.
As Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mr. O’Neill will be Robert Kennedy’s right-hand man. That person needs to be willing to challenge the secretary’s worst impulses, which the American public has seen on full display. I have no confidence that Mr. O’Neill is that person.
Every day, Americans are turning on the TV, picking up a newspaper, or tuning into radio stations and podcasts, only to hear that Trump and Republican cronies are ripping away basic health care from millions of Americans who are just trying to get by. These families are worried sick about what will be next on the chopping block.
I won’t support a nominee who will do whatever Robert Kennedy says, including destroying Medicaid and the rest of the health care system .
I urge my colleagues to vote no.
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