Sen. Coons: “It’s hard to look this right in the face and not be angry at my Republican colleagues.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today joined Morning Joe to discuss recent developments in the Middle East and the Senate Republicans’ health care bill.

“The hundreds of thousands of Delawareans who get their health insurance through their employer might face the loss of the consumer protections, the essential health benefits that are guaranteed through the ACA. Across the country, 150 million Americans have higher quality insurance because of the ACA. I think we don't talk about that enough,”said Senator Coons. “The preexisting condition protection, the ban on lifetime caps, the ban on discrimination based on gender, keeping your kids on health care through 26. That affects 150 million Americans, and those would be swept away through a series of state waivers in the Senate Republican bill.”

“It's hard to look this right in the face and not be angry at my Republican colleagues. I have an extended family member, my cousin's brother, who has been a quadriplegic for most of his adult life. His family could never afford his care. Medicaid has made his care possible, has sustained his life for decades, and has given him a quality of life that could be impossible otherwise,” said Senator Coons. “Every day I am mindful of the Delawareans, of people I know across this country, who rely on Medicaid. The idea that we are going to see a bill come to the floor here in the Senate that would cut hundreds of billions of dollars out of Medicaid over the next decade when President Trump promised on the campaign trail that he would not cut Medicaid, this is a very important moment for the values of this country. Who do we value? What do we value? That's what's on the floor this week.”

Full video and audio available here.

Excerpts from the interview: 

Senator Coons on Syria:This was a surprising development, and I haven't been briefed on it, but it's a reminder of the ongoing turmoil and challenges in the Middle East. We've got American forces on the ground and in the air in the campaign against ISIS in the Raqqa area and continuing operations against ISIS in Mosul, in Iraq. Frankly, this threat of renewed action against Assad for his potential use of chemical weapons again against his own people is a reminder that we are still waiting for a strategy from President Trump about how we're going to conduct both the war against ISIS and whether he will conduct any further strikes against Assad. 

More on Syria: I don't know where this statement exactly came from and where the decision to threaten Assad with an additional attack came from. I did support the previous strike against Assad's regime. After years of brutality against his own people, in violation of international norms, the continued use of chemical weapons. I'll remind you, shows that Russia's actions in which they said they guaranteed that Assad had given up all of his chemical weapons were not fully truthful. Assad continues to brutalize and murder his own people with the support of Vladimir Putin's Russia and Iran, but if we're going to take another action against Assad, we need to know who is responsible for it. At the end of the day, Trump is the commander in chief, and he can't simply outsource important national security decisions like taking a strike that might release chemical weapons against an entire community. 

More on Syria: Well, it certainly suggests to me that they are preparing for another strike against Assad and that this was designed to be a red line statement. That's exactly the sort of thing that can be irresponsible or even dangerous if you make a very bright line statement without having laid out a strategy for backing it up and without consulting with congressional leaders. I do think President Trump would get support from many members of Congress for striking Assad's chemical weapons forces, but to do so would require careful planning and a clear strategy. I'll remind you, if you strike the bunkers where chemical weapons are stored, you risk releasing them into the whole atmosphere in the area and causing more harm than good. Assad is obviously strongly backed by Russia and we risk escalating the conflict in Syria by taking a strike without the understanding and support of the American people. 

Senator Coons on whether the White House is preparing an attack: That's just my reading of the statement. I have received no other briefing of any kind. 

Senator Coons on the statement: I continue to be uncomfortable with foreign policy decisions made by tweet, and frankly, candidate Trump said that he would be unpredictable in foreign affairs, and President Trump has certainly delivered on that. When I've gone to regional security conferences with the North Atlantic community, I just returned from one with Senator McCain in the Asia Pacific, I hear that our allies and our opponents are deeply unsettled by the unpredictability of President Trump. We here in Congress are focused this week, especially in the Senate, on the health care bill. This is a reminder that there are lots of other developments in the outside world, but this is the week where we either are or are not going to see Republicans move forward. The bill that they developed in secret that would take away health care from 22 million Americans; I suspect most Americans watching this show this morning aren't expecting an escalation in the conflict in Syria. 

Senator Coons on Afghanistan: Yes. The commander in chief is responsible for making important strategic decisions. I understand a desire to allow combatant commanders to make week-by-week decisions, tactical decisions, but a decision that changes our trajectory in Afghanistan by reinserting thousands of American troops and asking our vital NATO allies to continue to shoulder the burden along side us of fighting in Afghanistan, that's a commander in chief decision. We in the Foreign Relations Committee both Democrats and Republicans have been asking for an administration witness to come forward and testify about their strategy in Afghanistan and ISIS. That's the president's responsibility. 

Senator Coons on the Senate Republicans’ health care bill: My read is that we have roughly 30,000 Delawareans who get health care through the exchange where the Affordable Care Act made it possible for them to get a quality affordable care for the first time. They would be at risk of losing access to health care. More importantly, the hundreds of thousands of Delawareans who get their health insurance through their employer might face the loss of the consumer protections, the essential health benefits that are guaranteed through the ACA. Across the country, 150 million Americans have higher quality insurance because of the ACA. I think we don't talk about that enough. The pre-existing condition protection, the ban on lifetime caps, the ban on discrimination based on gender, keeping your kids on health care through 26. That affects 150 million Americans, and those would be swept away through a series of state waivers in the Senate Republican bill. 

More on health care: You know, I'm someone who tries very hard to be bipartisan, to work across the aisle, to move forward legislation. This is very hard. It is very hard. I sat on the floor behind Senator Hirono, a close friend, as she gave that speech yesterday. It's hard to look this right in the face and not be angry at my Republican colleagues. I have an extended family member, my cousin's brother, who has been a quadriplegic for most of his adult life. His family could never afford his care. Medicaid has made his care possible, has sustained his life for decades, and has given him a quality of life that could be impossible otherwise. Every day I am mindful of the Delawareans, of people I know across this country who rely on Medicaid. The idea that we are going to see a bill come to the floor here in the Senate that would cut hundreds of billions of dollars out of Medicaid over the next decade when President Trump promised on the campaign trail that he would not cut Medicaid, this is a very important moment for the values of this country. Who do we value? What do we value? That's what's on the floor this week. 

Senator Coons on President Trump’s travel ban: Well, I think it reflects the Supreme Court's long deference to the Executive Branch in matters of national security and immigration. I'm troubled by a number of the decisions that were released yesterday showing a conservative trend in the Court, but I think on this particular issue we'll have to wait until oral argument and a full decision in the fall. 

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