Transcript: Sen. Ted Cruz on "Face the Nation," July 9, 2017
"Face the Nation" sat down on Sunday with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who is pushing GOP leaders for a more complete repeal of Obamacare in the Republican health care bill.
Cruz discussed health care -- and efforts to come up with a bill that can pass the Senate.
What follows is a transcript of the interview with Cruz, which aired Sunday, July 9, 2017, on "Face the Nation."
JOHN DICKERSON: And we want to turn now to health care and efforts to come up with a bill that can pass the Senate. Republican Senator Ted Cruz has held several town halls in his home state of Texas over the break. Senator, you're working on a solution. Welcome. But it looks like the bill is in trouble in the Senate.
TED CRUZ: Well, John, good morning. It's good to be with you. There's no doubt this has been a rocky path to getting there. But I continue to believe we can get this done. I think there are a lot of senators who have been working in good faith, working collaboratively for a long time. You know, six months ago Lamar Alexander and I brought together a working group that ran the full spectrum of the Republican conference. And I think we're making real progress. In my view, failure's not an option. This has been a central promise Republicans have made to the voters for seven years. I think we've got to deliver. And the way to deliver, what I have been urging more than anything else, the way to get this done, let's focus on lowering premiums. The biggest reason so many millions of people are unhappy with Obamacare is that it's made their premiums skyrocket. If we can fix that with commonsense solutions, give people more choices, more options, more freedoms, and lower premiums, that'll be a win. And that's how we unify our conference.
JOHN DICKERSON: So but here's the challenge: coming from Senator Grassley, your own party, who's worked on the healthcare issue, on your plan he said this, and let's listen to the audio. And I want to get your reaction--
TED CRUZ: Sure.
CHUCK GRASSLEY: There's a real feeling that that's subterfuge to get around pre-existing conditions. And if it is, in fact, subterfuge, and it has the effect of annihilating the pre-existing condition requirement that we have in the existing bill, then obviously I would object to that.
JOHN DICKERSON: Your response, Senator.
TED CRUZ: Well, Chuck Grassley's a good man. And he's a good friend. You know, I think it's important for Republicans not to be deceived by the attacks that are coming out of Chuck Schumer and the Democrats. You know, Chuck Schumer this week blasted the Consumer Freedom Amendment, which is, I think, critical to--
JOHN DICKERSON: Your amendment--
TED CRUZ: --getting this done. Yes. Because Schumer doesn't want us to pass this. Schumer wants this to fail. And so no Republican should be deceived when Schumer-- Schumer made the argument, he called it a hoax. Now, look, I'll note that Schumer and Obama, they know a lot about healthcare hoaxes. You know, Obamacare was sold to the American people on a whole series of lies. "If you like your plan you can keep your plan. If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor." And so what we need to focus on is how do we actually deliver results for the people who are hurting under Obamacare--
JOHN DICKERSON: But this is Senator Chuck Grassley. He's not- this is not the first run for him. He knows this issue. And he's a Republican. So he's not--
TED CRUZ: Well, but we need to focus on the actual facts. How does the Consumer Freedom amendment operate? It operates as follows: it's designed to be a compromise that can bring together both conservatives and moderates. That can unify the conference. And so what it says is you the consumer, you the patient, should have the freedom to choose the insurance you want. It shouldn't be the government dictating what insurance you can buy. So that if an insurance company offers at least one plan that's consistent with a Title One mandate, so that meets all of the mandates that you've got to provide right now--
JOHN DICKERSON: That are part of Obamacare. Including pre-existing conditions.
TED CRUZ: All of that is there. If they offer at least one plan, they can also offer additional plans that consumers may desire. That means you're not taking away anything that is there right now. All of the protection for pre-existing conditions are there. But what you are adding is additional options. So all the people right now who can't afford insurance suddenly will have options of lower premiums where they'll be able to afford coverage that they don't have now.
JOHN DICKERSON: Here's what's embedded in Senator Grassley's critique though. His argument is that one vestigial Obamacare plan that you allow will attract all the sick people. That the premiums there will skyrocket. And so you may be offering people pre-existing conditions in that single plan, but the premiums will be so out of sight that, in effect, you're not really offering it.
TED CRUZ: But, again, that argument is simply not accurate. If you look at how it would operate, yes, it is true that some young healthy people may choose to purchase Freedom plans at much, much lower--
JOHN DICKERSON: They'd be crazy not to.
TED CRUZ: And so they'd get much, much lower premiums. And so, number one, you have millions of people who are winners straight off. Young people. Young people get hammered by Obamacare. Millions of young people suddenly have much lower premiums. But let's focus on what you just asked. That the relatively small pool of people with pre-existing conditions, significant illnesses on the individual market. You're dealing with roughly four to five million people out of a country of 330 million.
JOHN DICKERSON: But the sickest among us.
TED CRUZ: In the individual market, yes. In every other market, in the group market, pre-existing conditions protections are there. Everywhere else, the pre-existing conditions are there. The individual market is a relatively small slice. And this is an even smaller slice.
Now, what I would say is in Congress that there's wide agreement that we're going to provide significant assistance to people with serious medical conditions and pre-existing conditions. The question is, how do we do it? What Obamacare does is it takes millions of young people, millions of people just starting out their career, and it jacks up their premiums, it doubles or triples their premiums, and then it uses that money not for those people, but to cross subsidize those who are sick.
I think that's unfair. If you've got a 28-year-old woman who's just starting her career, she's making 30,000 a year, trying to make ends meet, I think doubling her premiums is wrong and it's unfair. My view is we ought to do it with direct taxpayer funds. Let's use Warren Buffet's taxes and not that of a 28-year-old woman starting her career. And let me point out--
JOHN DICKERSON: Ok, Senator, we've got a commercial--
TED CRUZ: The Senate bill has billions in taxpayer subsidies and stabilization funds so that the premiums for pre-existing conditions stay stabilized and low.
JOHN DICKERSON: Okay. To be worked out this week. Senator, thank you so much for being with us. And we'll be back in a moment.