Roger Marshall

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, every day the Democrats refuse to fund DHS, they choose politics over the safety and security of our Nation. They continue to be the party of open borders and defund the police. To make it worse, they continue to refuse to meet. I am sitting here. It is like I am watching a divorce with two parents fighting over the kids. The Democrats say they want to meet, but they won't meet. The White House sent them an offer 14 days ago. There has been no response. There has been no official response. There has been no communication back to the White House. I know that the chairperson of DHS Appropriations has reached out multiple times to her counterpart, but they refuse to sit down. It is the same way with the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee. It is the same thing with our majority whip and our majority leader in that they have reached out through their counterparts and have asked to sit down. So someone is lying here, OK? Somebody is lying. I know that our appropriations folks would sit down this afternoon and work this out. I absolutely believe that they could. That is why, in a moment, I am going to ask that we fund DHS for 2 weeks. That should be the goal. That should be the objective. I will almost guarantee, if calm minds sit in the same room and go through their asks on ICE, we will figure something out, but there are no negotiations if the other side won't sit down here. That is what America needs to know--that the Democrats have refused to respond to the White House. They have refused to negotiate person to person. So we are happy to have this debate right here and right now. In a second, I am going to offer a clean 2-week CR to fully fund DHS. I am asking that we fund DHS for 2 weeks so as to protect American lives and then come back and talk, and let's work through our differences. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 156, H.R. 4553. I further ask that the substitute amendment No. 4353 be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, again, we have asked to fund the DHS for 2 weeks. My colleagues have different ideas on what to do here, but I think that we absolutely owe it to our friends and neighbors back home in that our country is less safe today when we don't have DHS funded and that they ought to cooperate to keep us safe. I am every bit as concerned about sleeper cells waking up today-- Iranian sleeper cells waking up today--and carrying out attacks on Americans. I am every bit as concerned about that as I am for the safety of our soldiers' lives. So I appreciate the objector's concerns here, and I look forward to figuring out a way to get the DHS open. I yield the floor.

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, in reserving the right to object, just 10 minutes ago, we offered to fund CISA and all of DHS. I am not going to leave behind the TSA. I am not going to leave behind the Coast Guard. I am not going to leave behind FEMA. I am not going to leave behind ICE and the Border Patrol. My colleague mentioned his experience in the State Department, which I have great respect for. He knows that, if one Agency is closed down, it impacts everybody else in the State Department. He also should understand--and I know he does; I know that he understands this--that if you shut down a part of DHS, it impacts everybody else and that there is a domino effect of problems. There is no one on the Democrat side who could argue that we wouldn't be safer if all of DHS were funded. No one could argue that we wouldn't be much safer as a nation if all of DHS were funded. But, instead, with all due respect, my colleagues across the aisle are turning to politics. They acknowledge the danger that this country is in, but they continue to choose politics over the safety and well-being of our Nation. Carving this up--carving the bill into separate pieces--makes no sense. It is a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that they are putting American lives at risk every single day. I would ask my colleagues who are pushing this piecemeal approach and who voted against full DHS funding a dozen times--so Democrats have voted against DHS funding at least a dozen times, and they are going to vote against it again several times today. I have got to go back. This is the one place where we probably disagree on the facts. Again, with respect to my colleagues, there is no negotiating happening if you won't sit down with us. There is no negotiating happening if you won't return or at least speak back to the White House and say: This is what we object to. This is what we want. What do you all want? I would ask my colleagues across the aisle to commit, as soon as our next vote is over with, to sitting down with our approps team and working this out. But there is no negotiating happening, right, America? There are no negotiations happening. The Democrats will not sit down with us. It is because they like this political argument. I want to just draw the roadmap here. Under the previous White House, they let millions of people come across our border, unvetted--violent criminals, known terrorists--and these sleeper cells are now starting to open. Republicans took over. We secured the border. We empowered the Border Patrol, and we empowered ICE. We stopped the flow of illegal aliens and started deporting those criminals. Because of that, America is a safer place today--America is a much safer place today--but now you are trying to unwind everything and defund the police. This is the theme here. Democrats defund the police. They want open borders. Republicans are the party of law and order. We want secure borders. We want ICE to do their job. The Democrats are now doing everything in their power to obstruct ICE's efforts to deport those threats. They have shut down funding for the entire Agency--an Agency that also has critical Departments for identifying threats and keeping American lives safe, like cyber security. This Agency is a frontline in cyber defense. Most Americans don't understand what the cyber defense Agency is, but it is a frontline in cyber defense. It protects our grids, our hospitals, water systems, and more from relentless threats--from China, Iran, and criminals. I know my colleague who has worked in the State Department knows that those threats aren't just theoretical. Every day, we are having thousands of cyber attacks, but the Cybersecurity Agency does not operate in a vacuum. They depend upon the CBP and the TSA and FEMA and the Secret Service and the Coast Guard to function. Funding one Agency while starving the rest is like funding Patrick Mahomes. It is like giving him a lifelong salary--the best deal ever--but not giving him a good offensive tackle. We saw how that worked out in the last Super Bowl. You have to fund the whole Agency. Again, the White House sent an offer 2 weeks ago--crickets from the Democrats. Why don't you respond to what the White House sent you? Why don't you sit down with our approps team? With that, I object.

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I would just ask my colleague to commit for your appropriations people to sit down face-to-face with our appropriations staff and our members this afternoon. I yield the floor.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, every day the Democrats refuse to fund DHS, they choose politics over the safety and security of our great Nation. They continue to be the party of open borders and ``defund the police.'' This just in over the wires, Mr. President. Breaking: The FBI warned police departments in California that Iran wants to retaliate for American attacks by launching offensive drones against the west coast, according to an alert. That is from ABC News. We can expect these threats to ramp up every day. Meanwhile, my colleagues across the aisle refuse to fund DHS. This is a political reason. You know, folks back home ask me: Why don't the Democrats come to the table? Well, that is just the issue--they won't even come to the table. The White House gave them a new deal, but the Democrats refuse to sit down with the White House and do any further negotiation. There has been no negotiation any further for weeks now at the subcommittee level, at the committee chair level, at the whip level, at the leadership level with our leader and their leader. They refuse to sit down with us. That is what America needs to understand. The Democrats won't even sit down to have this discussion. That is because it is a political issue that they happen to like. But we are a party of law and order. We are a party and we are a nation that wants secure borders, and we want law and order. Every day that they refuse to fund DHS, they are denying the urgent need to secure our borders against millions of unvetted, illegal immigrants and fentanyl floods killing Americans daily, proving they are the party of open borders. Every day that they deny funding for DHS, they are denying funding for law enforcement heroes in DHS, embracing their ``defund the police'' agenda that lets criminals roam free and terrorize communities. They are denying critical cyber security. People aren't getting this. DHS oversees the cyber security protections for our power grids and infrastructure, inviting attacks from enemies like Iran amid escalating threats. They are denying resources for combating human trafficking and child exploitation through HSI, abandoning vulnerable victims to cartels they empowered with lax policies. How do they not negotiate with this on the line, with American safety on the line? They deny the economic hardship on union workers and Federal employees furloughed in their shutdown stunt, betraying blue-collar families they claim to champion. They are denying the bipartisan legacy of DHS by blocking reforms and oversight, allowing Executive overreach that weakens congressional checks and American sovereignty. They are denying the blood on their hands from terror risk, migrant crimes, and disaster response failures, prioritizing radical politics over national security and lives. Every day, it is the Democrats' fault that American lives are at risk. I ask them: Quit your games. Quit the politics. Come to the table and make America safe again. I yield the floor.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate the Council Grove Republican, a remarkable smalltown newspaper serving the people of Council Grove, KS. With a population of roughly 2,200, Council Grove has been recognized as the smallest American town with its own daily newspaper. Since 1872, residents of Council Grove have relied on this publication to keep them informed about the news that directly impacts their community. The beloved newspaper has served as a trusted source for generations, covering everything from local politics to high school sports and community events. While many smalltown newspapers across the country have closed their doors, the Council Grove Republican continues publishing editions every Monday through Thursday. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of Jan Sciacca, Christy Jimerson, and Kay Roberts, the publication will strengthen the Council Grove community for years to come. I now ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the Council Grove Republican and its staff for their commitment to informing and connecting the residents of Council Grove. Their efforts ensure that this historic publication remains a reliable source of local news and information.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I rise today to honor three deputies from the Osage County Sheriff's Office and one trooper from the Kansas Highway Patrol for their extraordinary courage and sacrifice in the line of duty while responding to a domestic violence incident on November 15, 2025. On that morning, these officers promptly responded to a call for help, demonstrating the selflessness required of those who wear the badge. Gunfire erupted within minutes of arriving at the scene, and Deputies Christian Moran, Corporal Clayton Hartpence, K-9 Deputy James Cason, and Trooper Adam Ellis were injured. All four were transported to hospitals for treatment, and the suspect was killed at the scene. Over the ensuing months, these brave officers demonstrated tremendous strength and resilience in their recovery, supported by their families, fellow officers, medical professionals, and community. I am pleased to share that Deputies Moran, Hartpence, and Cason have returned to full active duty, and Trooper Ellis has also resumed service, once again answering the call to protect Kansans. This incident reminds us that the dangers of policing are often unpredictable, and even routine calls can become life-threatening in an instant. These officers displayed courage under fire and an unwavering commitment to their duty. Their actions reflect the highest standards of law enforcement and public service. I now ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing and honoring Deputies Moran, Hartpence, Cason, and Trooper Ellis for their bravery, sacrifice, and dedication to the safety and well-being of Kansans. May we never forget the risks officers face each day in service to others.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I rise today to mark a solemn anniversary, one that continues to weigh heavily on the hearts of Kansans and families across this great Nation. It was a year ago today that flight 5342 left Wichita, KS, en route to Washington, DC. As we all know, it never reached its destination. Sixty-seven lives were lost, amongst them, seven Kansans. Certainly, families were changed forever. Today, we pause to remember those lives and honor their memory and to stand with the loved ones who carry this burden every day. Kansans grieve together. When tragedy strikes, we don't do it alone. We lean on each other, we lean on our faith, and we lean on our communities. Today, we just want to remember those who were lost, remembering these were Kansans. They were sons and daughters, husbands and wives, parents, friends, and coworkers. And many were simply doing what so many of us do every day: traveling for work, for family, or to return home. The best way we can honor those we lost is by remembering them and learning from the tragedy. We tried to ensure there was full accountability since this tragic accident. We tried our best to ensure complete transparency, and then take a look to the future to see what we could do for the safety of future flights. And, certainly, we owe it to their families and to the memory of these loved ones to pursue these improvements and never forget why it matters. I recall a phone call early the next morning from the mayor of Wichita, KS, Mayor Lily Wu. She asked me--and we have a good friendship. She said, ``Roger, what can I tell the people of Wichita so they know that it is safe to travel on this flight?'' And she pointed out this is the busiest runway in all of America. She asked me: Why was a military helicopter in that airspace? So I picked up the phone and I asked our Secretary of Transportation and our Secretary of Defense that same question: Why would a helicopter be in that airspace? At that moment--or shortly minutes after that, they grounded any helicopters from being in that airspace. Then what did the Senate do? I am so proud of what my colleagues have done. Senator Moran helped lead the charge on that--and many others. We passed the ROTOR Act out of the Senate, which would implement commonsense reforms to ensure a tragedy like this never happens again. I would hope that our colleagues on the House side would also pass this bill and we can get it to the President's desk. Just in closing, here we are a year later, and we are here to remember, to honor, and try to figure out the best ways to move forward. But at the end of the day, we want the families of those back home to remember that we have not forgotten about their loved ones and that their lives did matter. I think I would be remiss not to express gratitude to the first responders that we met that night out in the frigid cold, sacrificing their lives, diving into the chilly waters in hopes of finding someone whom they could save. Thanks to all of our first responders. Finally, of course, we pray that God would continue to comfort the families who lost their loved ones. I yield the floor.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I just want to say that I am optimistic that the Senator from Rhode Island and I agree on our goals here: that we both think the environment is important, that we both want to leave this world cleaner, healthier, and safer than we found it. I think those are great goals. And having children and grandchildren that love the great outdoors, I want to leave this world better than I found it. But I guess where we disagree is, How are we going to get there? As a family, we have done projects like we planted over 20,000 trees on our land. We have done several water projects where we preserved wetlands. We have eliminated invasive species. We have worked with and invested in Ducks Unlimited, which does some incredible things for the environment. What is interesting, as we think about what are the biggest impacts on the environment and what the future holds, actually, the No. 1 predictor is the world economy--that if we have a strong world economy, the carbon footprint is going to be less. So we think about: Well, why is that? And we should answer the question: Why is that so? If there is a strong world economy, then the infrastructure can be built for energy production with a smaller carbon footprint. I think of building pipelines for natural gas, for instance, as opposed to all these countries that are still burning coal, that are burning wood and diesel fuel, heating fuel. I can't even believe that still, in America, we are burning heating fuel because we won't let natural gas pipelines go across certain areas. So a strong world economy is one of the biggest impacts on our environment's future. And so what impacts the world economy? I think one of the things is energy. The world needs energy that is not only affordable, but it needs to be reliable and clean. It has to be all those things. And we can do that. But if you have energy production that is not affordable, that is not reliable, then people aren't going to use it, and countries aren't going to use it. So we need this bridge. We need this bridge, and I think the solution long term is probably some form of nuclear energy. I think it is probably small modular reactors, which have zero carbon footprint. They are walkaway safe. They are not quite ready for prime time, but we are getting closer every year. And I think, within 5 to 10 years, we will have these small modular reactors powering communities and powering data centers and all those great things. I think we have to keep in mind that it is so expensive to transport electricity. If you transport natural gas to make energy, it is a tenth of the cost that it is to transport electricity. So, again, we have to think about the equation as well as clean, but we also need to think about affordable and reliable. I think the challenge for those of us who are actually scientists is to go back and think about all the predictions that have never, never come true from the climate alarmists. In 2013, Peter Wadhams said we would be ice free by 2015. In 2007, the IPCC said the Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035; it was later retracted. In 2019, everyone's climate alarmist favorite, AOC, said the world is going to end in 12 years if we don't address the climate change. We are not quite to 2031, but we are getting there. It doesn't do any good to be an alarmist. We need a practical approach to our environment--a practical, pragmatic, economical approach--and I look forward to the day when my friends across the aisle want to sit down with Republicans and have a real conversation about how we get there. And, again, I am just committed to leaving this world cleaner, healthier, and safer. I don't believe that we can go along with my colleague from Rhode Island's resolution here, and for that reason I object.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to use a prop during my remarks.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I am so excited to be here today. I am going to talk about one of my favorite--favorite--topics, eating. But my mouth is a little dry here, so I want to take a moment and enjoy some whole milk. You know, I am not the only one that loves eating. America loves eating. If I can share a story with my fellow Senators, I always thought that I was my grandma's favorite grandchild, and I thought it was because I was always the one that was the first to raise my hands for seconds. Now, I don't know if I was her favorite, but certainly I was one of her favorites. The interesting thing was, we couldn't gain weight, though. Despite eating seconds and an active lifestyle, nobody gained weight. We were all in a good weight area. And what did we eat? We ate real food. What did that real food look like? Well, we had whole milk for breakfast and for lunch and for supper. We had bacon and eggs in the morning. For lunch, we would have one of the other proteins: turkey or chicken or ham--but vegetables from our garden. That was it. Fresh vegetables, and we had, I think, four or five different fruit trees: a pear tree, a peach tree, several others. So we would have fresh fruits as well. And then for dinner--we called it supper--beef was the main dish always, but still with more fresh fruits, maybe some potatoes, some new potatoes. And, yes, we put bacon in the new potatoes, but all my grandparents lived a long healthy life on those diets as well. You know, on a Saturday night--I don't want to forget. Once or twice a month, on a Saturday night, we would finish work early, at 7 or 8 p.m., and we would make homemade ice cream with that cream that we had from our own dairy herd. And then the other piece that people forget about is we had canned food--not in a metal can, but they were in bottles. And what that canned food did is it was easier to digest. That fresh taste was locked into it. And, very simply, real food tastes better. I would hardly recognize the taste of some of the fruits and vegetables today. When I was growing up on our family farm, the strawberries melted in your mouth. The green beans, potatoes all had a very fresh taste. The cantaloupe, the watermelon--you would have thought they were adding sugar to it. But today's world, unfortunately, we eat from a box. We eat from a sack, and that is not real food. We did not have any of these ultraprocessed foods in my diet growing up. Now, I would like to talk a little bit more about eating, about eating real food, and share the new nutritional guidelines released yesterday by USDA, HHS, and FDA. Guess what their advice is. Their advice is to eat real food, the same food that I was raised on. Now, what I am excited about is--look, America was so hungry, so hungry for a new food pyramid that we flipped it. We flipped the food pyramid, and we made a triangle out of it. The big emphasis here is common sense and eating real food. And the big winner is going to be American families. It is going to be our youth, especially where we are seeing an epidemic. And I just want to give a shoutout to President Trump's leadership, to Secretary Kennedy, to Secretary Rollins, to FDA Director Dr. Makary, Dr. Oz at CMS, and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya at NIH for providing the real science--and all the people that worked so hard to put together these nutritional guidelines. And for all you naysayers out here, the science is never settled. I don't absolutely agree with everything on this pyramid as a physician, but these are incredible guidelines and huge steps in the right direction. And, again, use a little common sense as you go forward. For too long, we overcomplicated nutrition. We buried families in confusing charts, changing rules, and special-interest science. And while all of this was happening, America got sicker. Ninety percent of American dollars--healthcare dollars--are being spent on chronic diseases. Seventy percent of Americans have a chronic disease. A third of our children are prediabetic or diabetic. We simply can't continue to live in that direction. We were being told the last 20, 30 years to eat food from factories rather than foods from the farm. And these ultraprocessed foods were marketed as healthy. Well, people followed the advice in good faith, and they got sicker rather than healthier. Real food is food you recognize when you see it. Most of the time, it is not coming from a box. It is not in a bag. Sometimes, it is in a can; sometimes, it is not. You have to be careful. You have to look at the can. Did they add sugar to it? Did they add salt to it? Then I would probably turn away from it. It is fresh or frozen. Real food--healthy food--is fresh or frozen. I am so glad that the SNAP program is now going to require all the grocery stores to double the amount of opportunities of choices that you are going to have from this real food selection. Real food is protein. It is whole grains, and it is healthy fat. The previous pyramid probably required that 50 percent of your calories come from carbohydrates. We know that was probably a big mistake. Instead, we are going to push more proteins. People say: What is the new guideline talking about? It is that same diet I was raised on back at our farm. It is the same food your grandparents and my parents--my mom--made for us. Look, long before we knew what MAHA moms were, my grandmothers were MAHA grandmothers, and my mother was a MAHA mom. And my wife was cooking MAHA food, as well. They seldom opened a box. If you are opening a box to cook, think twice about it. Another good option, as we discussed what the new guidelines are, is putting water back where it belongs. I would argue water, whole milk-- those are your one-two drink alternatives, and certainly not sugary sodas. We all should be drinking more water. If you want to drink something besides water, I would suggest whole milk. A big point about whole milk to me is it satisfies one's appetite longer. You drink a sugary soda, and you are hungry again in 10 minutes. Your sugar is bouncing up and down. But milk has protein in it, and it is going to satisfy your hunger for longer, not to mention that it is full of protein, vitamins, and minerals. Let's take a look at this graph, our ``Eat Real Food'' graph, the new dietary guidelines. I think it is interesting. The foods down here aren't necessarily bad, but you should maybe eat less of them and more of these. As you go up the triangle, these are the more healthy foods. This is real simple. Down in the bottom of this, it looks like we have whole grains. We have oatmeal and whole grain wheat from Kansas to make bread. Then I believe this is rice and beans and nuts and bananas--more nuts, seafood, butter. Butter is another one of those full-fat foods derived from whole milk. Then we have a bunch of fruit. We have more seafood and yogurt, another milk product, as well. And, of course, there are your vegetables grown in the garden. Here are some frozen vegetables. Frozen vegetables are cheaper but really close to the nutritional value of fresh out of the garden. It looks like chicken and turkey. You probably have made those. The guidelines here are for a protein source. The cheeses--cheese is a great healthy source of food for you. And, of course, there is the American hamburger. Americans can't get along without hamburger. This is my favorite one. This is absolutely my favorite one. I am going to call this a T-bone steak. Most of you know that a T-bone steak not only has a bone in it, but on one side, of course, is the KC strip. That is a Kansas City strip. Some mistakenly call it a New York strip, but this is actually a KC strip, as well. And on this side, there is a little bit more of a flavorless type of meat. I like this KC strip here. So, again, the whole concept is what? It is to eat some of these, but more of these and a lot of these--basically, substituting more protein for less carbohydrates. We spend a lot of time here on the floor talking about healthcare reform. But this is the biggest day in healthcare reform we are going to see in America. We are spending $5 trillion a year--my friends across the aisle are quick to point out that America is getting sicker and that we are spending more and more money on healthcare. Yes, we have all sorts of new toys and new treatments available and new drugs out there, but if you want me to impact the true cost of healthcare--whether you are getting your insurance through your workplace, whether you are on ObamaCare, or if you are on Medicaid or Medicare--if you want me to save the Federal Government's budget, we need to fix the cost of healthcare. Getting back on a truly healthy, ``eating real food'' type of diet will impact more than any type of legislation that will ever be done up here. This nutrition needs to go back to the center of our healthcare. Eating healthy food should be at the center of our healthcare reforms, not necessarily all these policies that we are arguing about. Yes, we can keep throwing money at it. Yes, we can start giving our youth the latest GLP-1 drug. And rather than giving them a healthy diet, we can start treating them with a drug and give them all some type of drug addiction. This new nutritional guideline is a win for our youth. I am especially excited to see what we are going to do in the SNAP programs as well. When we get food at our senior centers, I think there are more healthy choices out there. We have to think of ways to make it more affordable and things the Federal Government can do to help make these nutrients more affordable as well. I just can't emphasize enough that the best medicine in the world is a healthy diet. This is what making America healthy again looks like. It is all going to start with nutrition. I can't help but add that Americans probably need to do a little bit more walking and get outside a little bit more as well. Again, I will finish up and say I am ecstatic that the Trump administration has taken this bold, decisive action and is breaking with decades of failed thinking. We are finally putting America on a realistic path to a healthier living that puts eating real food at the center. This is a huge win for the American families and the farmers who grow the best medicine in the world. Look, eating real food delivers real results. Let's make America healthy again. I have to do just one more thing. Even ice cream is healthy when eaten in small amounts. I want to add my favorite sweet out here and say it is OK to have a little ice cream. We need to have a lot more protein. I yield the floor.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the Kansas City, KS, Police Department Narcotics Unit and Task Force officers for their exemplary service in protecting others from dangerous, illicit substances. On December 30, 2025, the KCKPD conducted one of the largest drug busts in the city's history, seizing 120 pounds of methamphetamine, 8 firearms, and arresting 4 individuals. This marked the culmination of a successful year for the Kansas City, KS Police Department, during which officers seized 1,305 pounds of methamphetamine, 3,540 pounds of marijuana, 673 pounds of cocaine, 1.5 pounds of heroin, 30 pounds of powder fentanyl, 12,761 fentanyl pills, 375 firearms, and $1,224,507. Under the leadership of Chief Karl Oakman, the KCKPD has adopted an effective approach to responding to the rampant fentanyl epidemic. By responding to every overdose incident, whether fatal or nonfatal, the police department is able to identify and dismantle drug trafficking networks at their source. As part of the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas--HIDTA-- program, the KCKPD coordinates with Federal, State, local, and Tribal law enforcement partners to combat drug trafficking in critical regions of the United States. Fentanyl alone has killed tens of thousands of Americans, and it is the leading cause of death for young adults. By seizing these lethal substances, the KCKPD Narcotics Unit and Task Force officers have prevented the deaths of countless individuals. Keeping these drugs off the streets is crucial to public safety, and I commend the police department's commitment to protecting the health of its community. I now ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the KCKPD Narcotics Unit and Task Force officers for their outstanding service and tireless efforts in combating the flow of deadly drugs into our Nation.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 249, S. 1626.

Mr. MARSHALL. I ask unanimous consent that the Scott of Florida amendment to the committee-reported amendment be considered and agreed to; that the committee-reported amendment, as amended, be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Madam President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the vote on the Bass nomination.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, January 6; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Simmons nomination; further, that the Senate execute the order of December 18 with respect to the Simmons nomination at 11:30 a.m.; further, that the Senate recess following disposition of the Simmons nomination until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly conference meetings; finally, at 2:20 p.m., the Senate execute the order of December 18 with respect to the Bailey nomination.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to immediate consideration of Calendar No. 183, S. 320.

Mr. MARSHALL. I ask unanimous consent that the Scott of Florida amendment at the desk to the committee-reported substitute amendment be considered and agreed to, the committee-reported substitute amendment, as amended, be considered and agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, my grandma taught me so many things and had so many great, old sayings. One of the things she taught me is that, if you have your health, you have everything. If you have your health, you have everything. I think that is one of the reasons I wanted to become a doctor. I wanted to help give people their health. But healthcare is in a crisis right now. Healthcare is in a crisis. Doctors think healthcare is in a crisis. Nurses think healthcare is in a crisis. Patients, families, Americans--we all think that healthcare is in a crisis. The Democrats' solution is, frankly, just to throw more money at the problem--to throw more money at the problem--which really inflates everybody else's costs of healthcare. What our party would like to do is to empower patients, not insurance companies. We want to put patients in charge, not insurance companies. Before we, you know, dive a little deeper into our bill that we are asking unanimous consent for today, I want to answer, I think, one of the toughest questions I have been asked. The question is--you know, when I go back home, in January, families are going to look to me and say: Why couldn't you fix healthcare? I want the record to show right now that the Democrats are walking away from a yearlong extension on the enhanced subsidies. They are walking away. We are offering it. I don't think the subsidies are a good idea--I never did--but my heart says it is the right thing to do. So let the record show, if the Democrats object to this bill, they are walking away from a yearlong extension of ObamaCare in exchange for empowering patients. You know, this crisis--I think we need to understand a little bit more where this crisis came from. ObamaCare has been the law of the land now for 15 years. And perhaps Speaker Pelosi's most famous moment of her career is when she said we need to pass the bill so we can see what is in it. Well, now we know what is in it. We know it was written by insurance companies. We are giving them $150 billion a year. It was written by PBMs. It was written by big hospital systems, big healthcare systems who have driven the spend on healthcare now to $5 trillion a year. What have we ended up with? Of course, the costs are higher. No one can deny that the average premiums are now more than 200 percent higher than they were. Access is worse. Fraud is rampant. And really ObamaCare is junk insurance, right? When they talked about what junk insurance was, they argued for ObamaCare. ObamaCare has turned into junk insurance. When families have a deductible of $15,000 a year, that is junk insurance, right? So we ended up doing just the opposite of what they stated their intended goals were. So listen--listen--to what the Democrats are saying now and what they are willing to do. Let me just sum up, briefly, what our plan does, and then I will maybe go a little bit deeper. No. 1 is we address the fraud. No. 2, we extend the ObamaCare--the Biden-era extended subsidies for another year. We fund CSRs. We address fraud, if I didn't say that yet. And then starting in 2027, we would start taking some of that money that we were using on these extended subsidies--that is about $35 billion a year--we would start putting that into your debit card, into your healthcare debit card, thousands of dollars per family. You know, for some it might be $7,000. For some, it might be $5,000, but we want you to start making choices. And then, lastly, what our bill does--and this is why I am so confused why Democrats are walking away from this. If there was one good thing about ObamaCare is it addressed preexisting conditions. And we will talk about that more in a second. But our bill funds invisible high-risk reinsurance pools. So it is like belt and suspenders for people that develop high-risk conditions. Let's dive into each of these pillars a little bit more. No. 1 is let's stop the fraud. No one can deny that there is significant fraud in ObamaCare. We don't know exactly how much. Is it $20 billion? Is it $30 billion? We know that a third of people on ObamaCare never make a claim. A third of people on ObamaCare never make a claim. And we know that--we saw the number--the fraud increased significantly when we allowed people to have zero dollars in the game. So what our bill does is, No. 1, it requires an ID--ID verification. It requires work verification. It requires income verification. And it requires you to contribute $5 a month. If these were implemented, I really think we would save the country $25 billion a year. And again, that would more than fund this high-risk pool that I would like to do. I think stopping the fraud, there couldn't be anything more simple. But even just yesterday, the Democrats refused, and they voted down addressing the fraud. Next, our pillar is real price transparency. If we adopted this, the cost of healthcare for everyone--whether you are on ObamaCare or get your money through your work or you are on Medicare--it would drive down the cost of healthcare for everybody by 20 percent. Rather than spending $5 trillion a year, this country would be spending $4 trillion a year. Think of the great things--what else we could do if we had that money to do better things with. We could fund community health centers. So many great things we could do out there from a healthcare standpoint as well. But by giving pricetags to patients--by forcing every healthcare provider, upfront, to have a list of everything that they offer and have that already on a website run by CMS and you are sitting there in your hometown and the doctor says you need to have your knee replaced and you could automatically have populated within 60 miles all the hospitals charges. You are going to find some hospitals charge $10,000 for that hip replacement; others charge $60,000 for it; some $120,000 for it. Heck, you might even hop on a plane and fly from New York City to Kansas to save $120,000 on a hip replacement--and we will put you up in the best hotel in all of Kansas to do that. Pricetags are what cures that. Pricetags turn patients into consumers. It lets patients become shoppers again. Over and over again on Black Friday, Americans demonstrate to me that they have strong purchasing power and know what they are wanting to do with those dollars. So by empowering patients, by turning them into shoppers again, by forcing pricetags, this is going to lower the cost of healthcare for everybody by 20 percent. Our third pillar is to bridge subsidies for families. Look, you don't have to convince me of the cliff people are facing. Because of ObamaCare, premiums are going to go up 20 to 30 percent regardless. Regardless of what we do here in Congress, premiums are going to go up 30 percent. I want to help those people. Maybe, you know, the people most impacted by this cliff--there are probably 1 million of them, maybe there are 2 million of them as well. That is why we need to do more than this bill to impact them long term by allowing them to purchase healthcare across State lines and expand association healthcare plans. But again, we are extending the subsidies for 1 year. No other deal up here, really, on the Republican side addresses that except for this particular deal. I know my friends want 3 years. Look, let's talk about it. What would it take for you to actually consider driving the true cost of healthcare down and not just throw money at the problem? I just can't emphasize enough. You are a family of four. You are making $80,000 a year, which is more than the average salary in Kansas, and have a $15,000 deductible. That is not access to healthcare. You have to admit--and I think my Democrat friends do admit--that ObamaCare is broken. Next, I want to just talk about our invisible State-run high-risk pool. Look, I talked a second about preexisting conditions. The one thing I was really excited about ObamaCare is that it took care of the preexisting conditions. Guess what the most common preexisting condition is in America. It is pregnancy. I delivered a baby almost every day of my life for 25 years, and believe it or not, less than half of pregnancies are planned. And when couples are purchasing--they get married, they purchase health insurance, and they were going to save a couple hundred bucks by not including pregnancy, they thought it was a good idea. But guess what. Mother Nature doesn't always cooperate. Again, half these pregnancies were not planned. So I was glad to see us address preexisting conditions. But even now we know insurance companies do play games to try to keep you out once you have a tough diagnosis. But if those insurance companies knew that, based upon your diagnosis and the money you are spending, you are already going to this partially federally funded high-risk pool, it would keep everyone's premiums down. My friends across the aisle talk about--you know, they tug at people's hearts, which I want to do as well. We don't want anyone to face bankruptcy because of healthcare. But that is happening now, right? Admit it. Your plan is not working. All these many, many families are facing and have taken bankruptcy because of the cost of healthcare. So we use this belt-and-suspenders approach. We have the preexisting conditions in ObamaCare. We keep those. But then we do something better by funding these high-risk pools as well. You know, high-risk pools let us protect the sick without punishing the healthy. If these catastrophic costs are covered, premiums fall for everyone. That is just simple common sense. If you think about these five pillars here that I want the Democrats to agree with, I bet we drive down the cost of healthcare by 40 to 50 percent. You know, our last pillar is just this theme of turning patients into consumers by giving them pricetags, by putting Federal dollars in your debit account for healthcare, by giving you pricetags. We turn you into shoppers again. It is going to lower the cost for everybody, and then we start reallocating that waste from fraud and abuse. What makes our plan different than anybody else's out there? We address the fraud. We have pricetags that no other plan has. It bridges the subsidies. And instead, my Democrat friends are offering a $83 million fix. The Democrats are just compounding the junk insurance. With all due respect to my friends across the aisle, you are just throwing good money after bad money. By extending these subsidies for 3 years, it will be at least $83 billion. And the way healthcare is accelerating, it will be $100 billion. Again, I do feel the pain of these folks. I mean, these are my friends, my neighbors. A top-three issue for every family in America, for every business in America, is the cost of healthcare. How can you walk away from a plan that is going to drive the cost of healthcare down 40 to 50 percent? And instead, you just want to offer more junk insurance. Your plan doesn't do anything to bring down the cost of the deductibles in the plan. That is the problem. You could pay for their whole premium--you are. We are paying for their whole premium. But then they have a $15,000 deductible. That is not access to healthcare. I don't know why my friends across the aisle don't want to have meaningful discussions. Why do we not want to talk about fixing the problem? There is so much more than this that we should be talking about right now. Again, pharmacy benefit manager reform comes to mind, expanding community health centers, making sure everybody has meaningful access to primary care, bringing mental health into those community health centers. Those are all real solutions: expanding association healthcare plans, letting it be purchased along State lines. Could you imagine if Sam's Club or Costco or Amazon had an association health plan that you could sign up for? Think of the purchase power that they would have. There are real solutions out there. These are real solutions. Democrats have asked for a plan. This is, frankly, just the start of a good plan, but it would help bridge us over the next year to go after these other issues we can address on a bipartisan basis. And remember--I will just close with this. When patients ask their Senators in January why their health insurance premiums went up, and they are going to ask you: Why did you vote against Senator Marshall's plan that extended the subsidies for a year, I hope you have got a great answer for that. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Finance Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 3389 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, again, I greatly respect the words and have great respect for the Senator, my colleague and good friend from Delaware. And I know both of us share the same heart--that we want every American to have meaningful access to healthcare. There are many things we agreed upon. The PBM Disclosure Act is but one example. Bringing down the cost of prescription drugs would be a huge priority for us as well. We both agree that fraud is a problem. Take this bill and improve it. Is it too little? It probably is too little. But it is a start; it is a framework. You have the legislative text. Look, I have become very pragmatic in my days in Washington. I can't change what happened in 2010, before I got here. I can't change all the histories of dealing with healthcare. I can't change the fact that we have 100 Senators with 100 ideas to fix ObamaCare. I have already said ObamaCare--tackling ObamaCare is like tackling a buffalo that just ran through a barbed-wire fence; and every time you try to pull a layer of that barbed wire off, you get poked with it. I understand that. But this is a great framework. It is my effort at a bipartisan framework to get us started. And, again, offering the olive leaf of extending the Biden-era subsidies for another year, I think, is just the biggest olive branch I can make. Again, come January, my Democrat friends are going to have to answer that question: Why did you walk away from Senator Marshall's plan to extend those subsidies for a year? I yield the floor.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, healthcare is in a crisis. What Republicans want to do is put patients in charge, not insurance companies. But the first thing we need to do to fix ObamaCare is to address the fraud in ObamaCare. If we can't agree on this, I don't know how we can possibly begin to fix ObamaCare. I refer everyone to the recent week's Government Accounting Office report. They show people enrolled without consent, subsidies flowing from the Federal Government to insurance companies from people who don't even know they are enrolled in ObamaCare. They show that there were toddlers enrolled in ObamaCare. They demonstrated 58,000 dead people who were enrolled in ObamaCare, each of them having premiums sent to insurance companies on their dead body's behalf for some 9 months on average. We saw one Social Security number being used over and over again. In fact, over a third of the people on ObamaCare didn't file a claim. Now, I am not saying that all those people are fraudulent. In a group of otherwise healthy folks, maybe 20 percent of people don't file a claim. But from 2021 to 2024, we saw that the number of people not filing a claim went from 19 percent to 35 percent, and that is when the enhanced subsidies kicked in, and therefore many people had zero premiums, so the Federal Government was paying their entire premium. Again, we think that this report demonstrates billions of dollars of fraud, very often estimated at some $25 billion. That is why we introduced our bill, S. 3380, the ACA Marketplace Integrity Act, to stop the fraud. Who could be against that? Who could be against stopping the fraud? Our solution--I think it is pretty simple. First of all, mandatory identification verification for enrollment. Look, you can't get on an airplane, you can't get a hotel room, you can't rent a car without an ID. So let's verify identification. That is going to help decrease the fraud. Secondly, we are asking for a minimal monthly payment from everybody involved in ObamaCare. We are asking for $5--the cost of a Big Mac, maybe a Big Mac meal. For $5--we are asking people to contribute to their own healthcare insurance, and we don't think that is too much to ask. How is that going to prevent fraud? Well, look, if you are seeing $5 taken out of your paycheck or your bank account or charged to your debit card every month, you are going to sit there and say: Huh, where is that coming from? And if you contact the person where that debit is going to, then you are going to find out, oh, it is an insurance company. I know we have all had something similar to that happen to us where we signed up for some type of streaming service years ago, and you can't get it off your credit card, but it just keeps recurring. So what we are asking for is a minimum monthly payment of $5 from everybody on ObamaCare. Now, my friends across the aisle are going to say that eliminating the zero-dollar premium will prevent people from getting a plan and that it is a trap to dismantle the ACA. Look, I am not trying to dismantle the ACA; I am trying to fix it. I am trying to fix it for the folks who have seen their premiums more than double, people whose deductibles went from $1,000 a year to $15,000 a year. Why would we want those fraud dollars going to the insurance companies of all things? Let's take that same money and fund healthcare savings accounts. Now, the next point we do with our bill is we codify President Trump's integrity rule to strengthen verification. I think that just these simple tests, these simple solutions, will decrease the fraud. I think what consumers need to realize is that, just like shoplifting--even though the day you are there shopping, someone shoplifting doesn't impact the price of what you are buying, eventually it does. So this shoplifting, this fraud that is going on where we are taking good, hard-earned taxpayer money and sending it to insurance companies, is driving up the cost of healthcare for everybody, and every wasted dollar skips the real care that is needed. I don't know why my Democrat friends want to prioritize insurance companies over real people and shrug their shoulders at fraud by fighting subsidy cuts. What we as Republicans demand is honesty, accountability, transparency, and then we are going to redirect these subsidies. Let's redirect the subsidies, empowering patients over insurance companies-- again, all with transparent services. But we have to start with anti- fraud. If we can't agree to stop funding imaginary enrollees, what can we agree on? If it is not our plan, then what is the Democrats' plan? Show us a plan that fights fraud. In Kansas and in every State of this Union, resources are blessings. It is Christmastime. It is a time to remember other people. I truly want every person in America to have meaningful, affordable access to healthcare, and the Republican plan does that. But we have to start by stopping the fraud. Let's not waste hard-earned taxpayer dollars. Let's stop throwing good money after bad money. This bill will stop the fraud. It is going to prioritize patients. And I urge every Member of the Senate to help us immediately stop the fraud. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, the Finance Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 3380 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, it seems like it was just yesterday. The year was 2010. I was in the surgeons' lounge, and what I remember on the headline news of the day was Nancy Pelosi saying something to the effect of this: We have got to pass the bill so we can read it. And I knew this bill had something to do with healthcare. They were calling it the Affordable Care Act--ObamaCare, as we now know it by-- the ``Not So Affordable Care Act.'' So the doctors and I scrambled, and we said: We better see what is in this bill. And we said: First of all, gosh, it looks like the insurance companies wrote this bill. The Federal Government is going to give direct subsidies--corporate welfare--to health insurance companies. It was supposed to max out at $50 billion a year. Today, it is $150 billion a year. The next thing, when we looked at that bill, we said: My goodness, there is so much in rules and regulations, and we are going to have to take nurses off the floor and turn them into data entry. We are going to have to stay hours at a time, after practice, after office hours, just to do these electronic medical records. We said that this overregulation was going to lead to consolidation of industry. Here we are 15 years later, and that is exactly what happened. We have three PBMs controlling 85 percent of prescription drugs. Most every State has one or two healthcare insurance companies controlling the market. There are typically one or two hospital systems controlling healthcare in a large geographical area. The smaller companies can just never keep up. So what we have seen is 15 years of failed policies. But families deserve real reform, and that is what we are trying to do. We are trying to reform, to fix the ``Not So Affordable Care Act,'' ObamaCare. And of all the things we saw coming, we thought it would be fraud. But when fraud really spiked is when we added these enhanced premium tax credits--the Biden enhanced premium tax credits. And just like the original ACA, these enhanced premium tax credits were voted for only with Democrat votes. And what it allowed is for patients to have health insurance without paying anything toward the premium. So we had headhunters who went across the country. They got a person's name. They got their birth date. They enrolled them in ObamaCare, and the patient never even knew they were on it. But the Federal Government has been sending money to these insurance companies. In fact, one out of three people on ObamaCare, in a given year, never makes an insurance claim. One out of three people on ObamaCare never makes an insurance claim. That is because most of them don't even know they are on it. And when there is no money coming out of one of their accounts, they have no idea that they are on it. I think that to Americans, it is like shoplifting--shoplifting at a grocery store. We all end up paying for that. The rest of the consumers have to pay for the shoplifting. That is what is happening in ObamaCare. Everybody else is paying for that increased premium. So the first thing that we want to do is to stop the fraud in the Affordable Care Act, and we do that in several ways. How about something as simple as checking IDs? I can't get a hotel room tonight-- when you apply for Medicare, for Social Security, you need an ID. We need to have job verification. We need to check IDs. We need technology to figure out when dead people should have the stipends stop. The recent GAO report showed that 58,000 dead people were having premiums paid to these insurance companies for an average of about 9 months each. So think of the cost of that to the Federal Government and to taxpayers--58,000 dead people having an insurance premium paid monthly for 9 months before the Federal Government realizes that they are dead. Probably, a third of that $150 billion a year we are spending on ObamaCare right now is in fraud, waste, and/or abuse. The next thing we want to talk about is price transparency. Could you imagine--let's just say that, boy, you had a great year, and you are living that American dream, and you are going to go buy a new pickup truck. And, you know, maybe your family usually drove Fords, and maybe your family drove Chevys, but you want a Dodge. So you know you want four-wheel drive. You know you want a nice V-8 engine to be able to pull your boat and to get unstuck when you are out hunting and fishing, but you would like to know the price. So what is the difference between a Dodge four-wheel drive truck, eight-cylinder engine--maybe a HEMI-- versus that Chevy or Ford model which are similar? Could you imagine making that decision without knowing the pricetags? Could you imagine going into the McDonald's, and you are trying to decide if you want the Big Mac or you want the Filet-O-Fish and not knowing the difference in the prices on that? So why, in healthcare, are we satisfied with not knowing the prices? So one piece of our solution to solve this riddle of healthcare is to force all healthcare providers to provide prices. So if your doctor says that you need your knee scoped or your doctor says you need an MRI, they can give you a code. You get on your technology, and what the technology shows you, within 60 miles, is all the different facilities that are covered by your insurance and what the cost would be for that procedure and some outcomes as well. You would be amazed. You can save thousands of dollars on an MRI by doing a little shopping, with the same quality. You need a joint replaced. You might save $40, $50, $60,000 for having the hip replaced at a surgical hospital as opposed to a traditional hospital setting. And guess what. The infection rates are lower here at this surgical hospital. So our bill forces, again, all healthcare providers to show you the true costs. This turns patients back into consumers. It is the only industry in America where we don't allow consumerism, and the ACA is just complicating this. So what our bill does is require, again, all healthcare companies-- healthcare providers--to show you the true costs, no excuses. Think about the savings of this. Even I underestimated the savings of this. This will mean $1,000 a month per family. If we adopt our pricetags bill, it will save the average American family a thousand dollars a month. America spends $5 trillion a year on healthcare now--$5 trillion a year. If we give the American consumers pricetags, it is going to save a trillion dollars. Just like Black Friday, when we had people out there shopping, what is the first thing you want to know? You want to know the prices. And, by the way, 80 percent of healthcare decisions are made by women. And I know these women are expert shoppers. If you give them the technology, if you give them the prices, then they can figure out what they want to buy and where the best place to do it is. Our third pillar is to bridge the subsidy issue for families. Look, I don't have to tell any American the challenges with the cost of healthcare. I never cared for the subsidies--the Biden-era subsidies. Again, they were passed with all Democrat votes. But here we are, and they are going to expire. The Democrats set them up to expire December 31. It was really a COVID-era extra bonus. Remember, the other 80 percent of the premiums are still going to be covered. The original Biden-era subsidies are not expiring, and they typically cover about 80 percent of the premiums. So I am willing to extend those for a year, as long as we get some of these other things, as long as there is long-term reform. We get our pricetag bill. We address the fraud. And then what we would do is slowly start putting money into your healthcare savings account. Let me say that again. The Federal Government, rather than sending money to the insurance companies, we are going to put money in your healthcare savings account to pay toward your deductibles. Remember, your deductibles under ObamaCare went from $1,000 a year to $15,000 a year. So our bill would start taking part of that money and turning you into a consumer. You combine our pricetags bill, putting money into your savings accounts, and then we are going to see true consumerism, and we are going to see the cost of healthcare come down 20 percent. Our next pillar that I would like to talk about is high-risk pool protection. Now, what does that mean? Certainly, ObamaCare did some good things, and one of them was to protect people with preexisting conditions. You may know, but I was an obstetrician. I delivered a baby every day for 25 years. And the most common preexisting condition that wasn't covered was pregnancy. Less than half of pregnancies are covered--are planned. Excuse me. Less than 50 percent of pregnancies are covered, and people buy their health insurance. They didn't think they needed maternity coverage. But guess what. They did. So I want to make sure everyone's preexisting conditions are covered. I want everyone to have meaningful, affordable access to healthcare, and I want to make sure we protect this. But one way we protect that issue and drive the cost of healthcare down is a reinsurance pool--a high-risk, invisible reinsurance pool--so that when any person in America hits a certain spending amount, they would go into this high- risk pool. They would be State run. We need State money in the game as well. Everybody that is getting insurance through that State needs to be contributing--probably $3, $4 a month--to that high-risk pool as well. And if the insurance companies knew that you were going to be able to grasp out those outliers, it is going to bring the premiums down for everybody else. So we talk a lot about CSRs. You could take half of the money that we would save by funding the CSRs and put that money into the start of high-risk pools, and all of a sudden, you have got something going here. If you would implement our plan, I really do think you are going to see healthcare costs go down by a third, maybe 50 percent, but at least by a third. Between pricetags, between funding your HSAs, by making patients consumers, by setting up these high-risk pools, we are going to start decreasing the costs of healthcare for everybody. So those are our five pillars. Let's stop the fraud. Let's give patients pricetags. Let's bridge the subsidy. I am willing to include the subsidy for a year longer if we start bridging to a better future, where we are not throwing good money after bad money. We set up the high-risk pools, and you end up with lower costs for patients. We are fighting for patients. We are fighting for hard-working Americans. We are not fighting here for big business. We are not here fighting for insurance companies. Small businesses are in desperate need to lower the cost of healthcare. For every business I talk to, every union I talk to, every self-employed person I talk to, the cost of healthcare is a top-three issue. And these pillars will help address that. This plan was not made overnight. This plan, as I said, started really back in 2010 in a surgeons' lounge. And when I was elected to come here in 2016, this is one of my three or four issues that I wanted to address. And I have continued to revise and refine and improve this plan from year to year to meet this moment. In fact, it was 2018 that now-Speaker Mike Johnson and I put together a comprehensive replacement bill for the ACA. And here we are today, no better off. Prices are skyrocketing, and we continue to struggle. I am encouraged. I think we have some momentum. I continue discussions across the aisle. And what I hear my friends across the aisle saying is that we share a lot of the same goals. We want Americans to have affordable, meaningful healthcare. And by the way, again, a $15,000 deductible for a family making $120,000 a year--that $15,000 deductible is not the same as access to care. This is not a conclusive list. There needs to be more. There are more things we can do. We need to expand healthcare association plans. We need to allow insurance to be sold across State lines. We need to take on the PBMs. This is just the start, but this would be a backbone. And I don't know why any of my friends across the aisle would be opposed to any one of these particular pillars. Our text for our bill is out. The legislative text is out there now. We welcome cosponsors. We welcome this as an opportunity to build toward a bipartisan bill in January. Americans deserve transparency. They deserve accountability. They deserve affordability. And this plan delivers it. I yield the floor.

Mr. MARSHALL

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, before I start talking today, I just want to pause for a moment to take a quick drink of the most nutritious, delicious drink known to humankind. So here is to healthy bones and here is to all the hard-working dairy farmers across Kansas and across America. This summer, the Senate Agriculture Committee worked together to pass this legislation through the committee on a bipartisan basis. Special thanks to our chairman and to our ranking member for working on this with us. This bill will allow for whole and reduced milk, as well as nutritionally equivalent nondairy options, to be served in schools. This corrects a decades-old policy made here in Congress that consequently created over 10 years of kids without having access to whole milk in schools and, indeed, created a whole generation of young Americans with weak bones. Passing the Whole Milk for Health Kids Act through the Senate is a huge win for schools, for students, for parents, and for American dairy farmers. We are giving students more choices, schools more flexibility, and ensuring a brighter future for our farmers. Whole milk delivers 13 essential nutrients and has enough fat content to help students absorb vitamins like A, D, E, and K. It is also packed with protein that helps keep the student full all the way through those long afternoon math classes and then on through gym and on through their sports activities, until they get home at night for dinner. Simply put, it is one of the healthiest--it is the healthiest--option in the cafeteria. Bringing whole milk and nutritionally equivalent beverages to schools would help fight early onset osteoporosis, osteopenia, and other diet- related diseases by providing students with critical nutrients-- nutrients like calcium, potassium, and vitamin D--that we are all lacking today. It strengthens bones. It helps your immune system. It builds healthy habits, and it tastes great. As the grandson of a dairy farmer, as an OB-GYN for over 30 years, it may seem like I am a bit biased, but I assure you this legislation is a slam-dunk solution for our Nation. Of course, there is always room to improve our public health, and I look forward to working with our colleagues who, I understand, also have a few thoughts on this legislation. I yield the floor.