Senator from Oregon warns GOP plans to tie health-cost fixes to abortion restrictions could strip coverage
November 08, 2025 | Senate Committee on Finance, Senate Committees, U.S. Senate, Legislative, Federal
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The senator from Oregon warned on the Senate floor that Republican proposals to tie reductions in health-care costs to restrictions on abortion funding could strip millions of Americans of coverage and threaten small businesses that rely on a tax credit.
The senator said Republicans have criticized large insurers and framed the Affordable Care Act as a giveaway to insurance companies, but added that making cuts that remove protections "shouldn't come at the cost of kicking millions out of their health care in January." The senator pointed to small-business owners "Carla and Bartley of Eugene" as examples who are facing steep premium increases.
The senator emphasized that the Affordable Care Act already "prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars for this care," saying "0 federal dollars pay for this care in ACA plans." She accused some Republican proposals of amounting to a "backdoor national abortion ban," contending they could "weaponize federal funding for any organization that does anything related to women's reproductive health care" and even "revok[e] nonprofit status" through the tax code.
The speech cited prior federal actions as precedent, noting, "Donald Trump defunded Planned Parenthood in his horrible budget bill," and warned that discussions of another reconciliation bill make the risk "a real and present danger." The senator said the consequences since the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade include women being denied life-saving medical care and doctors leaving states out of fear of prosecution.
Quoting the floor directly, the senator said, "I have 1 thing to say about that, not on my watch," urging colleagues to dismiss what she called a "radical Trojan horse against women's essential health care out of hand." There was no recorded vote or formal action tied to the remarks in this transcript.
The senator framed her concerns as both a policy and moral warning and called for bipartisan work to curb insurance abuses without eroding coverage or imposing new national limits on reproductive care. No follow-up vote or formal committee referral was announced during the remarks.
The senator said Republicans have criticized large insurers and framed the Affordable Care Act as a giveaway to insurance companies, but added that making cuts that remove protections "shouldn't come at the cost of kicking millions out of their health care in January." The senator pointed to small-business owners "Carla and Bartley of Eugene" as examples who are facing steep premium increases.
The senator emphasized that the Affordable Care Act already "prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars for this care," saying "0 federal dollars pay for this care in ACA plans." She accused some Republican proposals of amounting to a "backdoor national abortion ban," contending they could "weaponize federal funding for any organization that does anything related to women's reproductive health care" and even "revok[e] nonprofit status" through the tax code.
The speech cited prior federal actions as precedent, noting, "Donald Trump defunded Planned Parenthood in his horrible budget bill," and warned that discussions of another reconciliation bill make the risk "a real and present danger." The senator said the consequences since the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade include women being denied life-saving medical care and doctors leaving states out of fear of prosecution.
Quoting the floor directly, the senator said, "I have 1 thing to say about that, not on my watch," urging colleagues to dismiss what she called a "radical Trojan horse against women's essential health care out of hand." There was no recorded vote or formal action tied to the remarks in this transcript.
The senator framed her concerns as both a policy and moral warning and called for bipartisan work to curb insurance abuses without eroding coverage or imposing new national limits on reproductive care. No follow-up vote or formal committee referral was announced during the remarks.
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