GOP's Hail Mary Plan to Repeal Obamacare Gaining Steam; Interview with Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts
BURNETT: Tonight, Republicans pushing ahead with a Hail Mary plan to repeal Obamacare, a plan that just might work. Among other things, this plan would get rid of the Obamacare individual and employer mandates. It would get rid of the Obamacare subsidies, and this one is important, too, allow insurance companies to charge more for people with pre-existing conditions. OUTFRONT now, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts, Ed Markey. And, Senator, I appreciate your time tonight. Look, this bill has snuck up stealthfully, nobody was watching and then, all of a sudden, here it is. It is real. Can it pass?</s>SEN. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Well, it's just Trumpcare again. It's a zombie Trumpcare bill. It does pretty much the same thing. It's going to throw tens of millions of Americans, potentially off of their health care. It's going to not give them a guarantee that their pre-existing conditions are covered. It's going to slash Medicaid and other funding by $700 billion, which will be used ultimately to give tax breaks for the Republican wealthiest supporters in America. And the 2.8 million Americans who right now are covered for opioid addiction treatment, well, the funding levels are going to be slashed dramatically, and the care for their families is going to be put in jeopardy all across this country.</s>BURNETT: Look, your point of view, of course, is what I would expect. But as you know, the reason that the highly public efforts to repeal Obamacare failed earlier this year was not Democrats like yourself, Senator, it was Republicans, right? They couldn't get Republicans on board. And some of those big names who wouldn't vote yes before might vote yes now. Conservative Senator Mike Lee, he says he's impressed by the proposal, his word. John McCain has not ruled out supporting the bill. His vote, of course, was the one that doomed the last vote. Does this worry you?</s>MARKEY: Well, what's going to happen now is that the volume of voices across the country that were heard back in July are going to be once again activated. So, there are going to be more tweets and Facebooks and telephone calls than this Congress has seen since all the way back in July when Trumpcare one came up. So, Trumpcare two is no more attractive to the very same people. And so, there is a stimulus response quality to Congress, and there's nothing more stimulating that millions of Americans registering their opposition to a bill which hurts their families. That's going to be unleashed over the next week.</s>BURNETT: The authors of this bill note something, Senator, that's pretty important to you. They say that four states, New York, California, Maryland, and your state, Massachusetts, get about 40 percent of Obamacare funding. Their plan, though, would equalize Medicaid funding across the state. So, instead of having it all go to four states or I'm sorry, that lion's share, it would be equal. Isn't that a fair thing to do?</s>MARKEY: What they miss is the next sentence where then they say, but we're going to cut the total funding by $700 billion. That's going to hurt everybody. So they're going to give smaller chunks --</s>BURNETT: So, would you be onboard with equal funding if the overall amount -- because if all we did was equalize it, you'd lose money.</s>MARKEY: If all the states that are now not in the system joined, they would get the funding as well. If Texas joined, if Florida joined, if all those Southern states joined, they would get the funding that Massachusetts and other states are receiving right now, and they would receive it in a much larger measure. Right now, they're just sitting on the sidelines. And their own citizens are being harmed. Their health care is not as well- protected. So, let's not miss this central point, though, that they want to cut it by $700 billion. A vision without funding is a hallucination. They're going to hurt the health care of people in all 50 states if that amount of money is taken out of the health care system.</s>BURNETT: Senator, thank you for your time tonight. Senator Markey from Massachusetts.</s>MARKEY: Thank you.</s>BURNETT: And next, the breaking news. Hurricane Maria just really now beginning its assault, approaching Puerto Rico in the final stages. Residents there are preparing for literally the worst. They are saying evacuate or die. Is this what's headed their way? An expert is flying through the eye of the storm. The heart of that storm right now, his first flight in to figure out what's happening, calling us from the airplane. And on a much lighter note, what Donald Trump's new nickname for Kim Jong-un is doing for Elton John.