VIDEO: Peters Speaks on Senate Floor in Favor of Proposal to End Shutdown, Protect Affordable Health Care

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) spoke on the Senate floor to urge his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to accept a commonsense compromise that would end the government shutdown and address the health care affordability crisis.

Peters is pushing for the Senate to quickly pass his proposal, which would include a one-year extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits in any deal to reopen the government. The proposal would also create a bipartisan commission to continue negotiations on reforms ahead of next year's enrollment period while ensuring health care remains affordable for Americans. Millions of Americans have seen their premiums increase as a result of these tax credits expiring, including hundreds of thousands of Michiganders, and close to 2 million people nationwide could lose health care coverage altogether in the next year.

"Republicans have repeatedly said they won't negotiate reforms to the health care tax credits until the government reopens. We want to respect Leader Thune's desire to negotiate after the shutdown, so we are offering a very simple compromise," said Senator Peters. "The deal to reopen the government must include a clean, one-year extension of the health care tax credits to immediately address rising costs, and it must create a bipartisan committee that will continue negotiations on reforms ahead of next year's enrollment period to provide long-term certainty that health care will be affordable. This proposal reopens the government and ensures families who are shopping for their health care right now get some immediate financial relief from the drastically rising costs."

To watch Peters' full speech on the Senate floor, click HERE.

Below are excerpts from Peters' remarks as delivered:

"Republicans have repeatedly said that they will not negotiate reforms to the health care law credits until the government reopens. I can tell you now, all of my colleagues on this side of the aisle definitely want to open government, and we want to do it as soon as possible.

"We are also willing to respect Leader Thune. So, Democrats are offering a very simple, straightforward compromise. And if Republicans accept this, we could open the government today.

...

"We believe that while we're trying to figure out a long-term solution to the health care crisis, people should not be penalized. People should not be suffering. Give the relief they need now and over the next year we'll work together to find a more comprehensive solution.

"We know that the nation is facing a health care crisis. Costs are skyrocketing and too many Americans are risking losing their coverage, they are struggling to choose between food or gas and health care.

"It's not just Americans in blue states. Let's be clear. Families across the country are paying these prices. Every one of us have families that are experiencing this now in our states. But we can take action today to give our constituents an immediate financial relief and prevent them from being priced out of the insurance.

"We all want to end the shutdown. We want to ensure that government services can continue, and we want to ensure our hardworking federal employees get the pay they have earned.

"But Democrats have made clear since day one that in order to get the votes that Republicans need, we must address the healthcare crisis. Because the American people have made it clear they want Congress to take action on this issue. It's literally life or death for far too many American families.

"I know many of my Republican colleagues want to work on this issue too. I've had conversations with so many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who want to try to figure out how we fix this. But they've said repeatedly we won't negotiate until the government reopens.

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"My colleagues are willing to compromise on this and it's something that can be done today if we need to. But our Republican colleagues have to be willing to compromise too. Compromise is a two-way street... and we want them to show us these are not just empty words. That they are willing to compromise and they do want to take action.

"That's why we put forward this simple proposal. Extend the tax credits for one year. We are not asking to make any major changes to the current law, just extend it to protect the people who are suffering now and hurting.

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"We can fix this. If we care to make sure that families can have health care, we can all agree on that. We should get 100 votes for people to say we are doing everything we can for people to have health care.

"We can open up the government, we can pay employees, and move this country forward if we do this. All we need is an extension of a law that already existed for some time.

"We know that from the start any deal will ultimately have to be a compromise. It doesn't have to be unanimous. There will be likely folks on both sides who will feel uncomfortable with this. I get that. That's how this place works.

"But our proposal... would create a bipartisan committee that would continue negotiations on reforms ahead of next year's enrollment process so that we're not pulling the rug out from underneath families.

"If we vote for this compromise today, we could open up government. This could be behind us. Families could get certainty for the next year while we look at long-term solutions.

"The government can open, but it will take all of us to compromise. My colleagues are saying we are willing to compromise for the good of the country."

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