Here is a transcript of Sen. Hirono's appearance on the Rachel Maddow Show on MS-NBC September 18. I couldn’t agree with Sen. Hirono more, especially when she says that -- despite the perpetual whining of my alt-Left friends that “there’s really no difference” between the Republican and the Democratic parties -- the two major parties have a basic, fundamental philosophical difference on this issue. Democrats regard health care as a human right; Republicans regard it as a commodity that you should only have access to if you can afford it.
To watch Sen. Hirono’s amazing interview, log on to
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/paul-manafort-wiretapped-and-threatened-with-indictment-reports-1049479235856. Any errors in the transcript are mine.
Senator Mazie Hirono: Rachel Maddow Show, MS-NBC, September 18, 2017:
[On the Senate Floor:]
When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer and facing my first surgery, I heard
from so many of my colleagues, including so many of my colleagues from the
other side of the aisle, who wrote me wonderful notes, sharing with me their
own experience with major illness in their families or with their loved ones.
You showed me your care. You showed me your compassion. Where is that
tonight?
Interview with Rachel Maddow on MS-NBC:
Maddow: Joining us
now is Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawai’i, who was on the Senate floor earlier
tonight, one of the Democratic Senators speaking out against this latest effort
to kill the ACA (Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare”). Senator
Hirono, I really appreciate your time tonight. Thank you for being here.
Hirono: Aloha,
Rachel. Good to be with you.
Maddow: I feel a
little bit rude, talking about your personal health situation in introducing
you here, but I did feel like I wanted to let people know the kind of personal
hardship you’ve gone through to try to participate in and lead this fight. I’m
sorry if that was rude, and —
Hirono: Not at all,
Rachel.
Maddow: Well, how
are you feeling right now, and how is your health?
Hirono: I’m feeling
fine, but I’m not out of the woods. You know, the good thing is I have health
care coverage, which millions of people in our country do not have and which,
by the way, the Republicans are hell bent on getting rid of health care for
even millions more people in our country.
So there’s a difference between Republicans and Democrats.
Democrats believe that health care is a right, not a privilege only for those
who can afford it. Obviously, Republicans consider health care a commodity.
It’s like they think we should go out and buy health care the way we buy a car
or a TV. It’s not like that at all.
So this obsession they have to eliminate health care for
millions of people in our country, knowing the harm they are doing, is
something that I find really inexplicable, except that they consider it a
commodity, not a right.
Maddow: In terms of
their prospects of doing this, obviously we have had a ton of drama that ended
in the middle of the night, with Senator [John] McCain voting no and their last
effort falling apart.
Hirono: Yes.
Maddow: What do you
make of their chances of actually getting this done? We know the time line has
to be incredibly compressed if the — if they need to get this done by the end
of the month, which is what the Senate parliamentarian says they need.
Hirono: I don’t
think that [Senate majority leader] Mitch McConnell will bring this bill to the
floor and have health care, getting rid of the Affordable Care Act, fail once
again. I don’t think that’s what he wants to do. So what he’s going to do is
twist as many arms as he can to convince the Republicans, mainly, to go along
with him.
The Democrats will stick together. We have to. We have done
so, and my hope is that Lisa Murkowski [R-Alaska] and Susan Collins [R-Maine]
will continue to hold fast and not hurt the people in their districts — in
their states — who are relying upon them.
Maddow: Senator
Hirono, I know one of the other things that you bring to this fight is your own
family’s story.
Hirono: Yes.
Maddow: In terms of
your own personal health care history as a child, your family’s, your
upbringing. Can you talk a little bit about what motivates you on this subject,
and what you think might be at risk?
Hirono: I am an
immigrant, so I came to this country with a single parent, my mother, who left
an abusive marriage to create a better life for us in this country. And so
growing up, she had really low-paying jobs, no health care coverage, and
literally I was really scared that she, the breadwinner of our family, would
get sick. And if she got sick, then there would be no money because she
wouldn’t be able to go to work.
That is very real to me, and of course as I mentioned, my
sister in Japan died because, I believe, she didn’t have access to adequate
health care. So this is real to me, and I happen to know that these are
concerns or challenges that people in our country face every single day.
And you know, Rachel, that evening’s speech, which I wasn’t
intending to speak because I had already spoken many times on the floor, at
rallies, at press conferences, about the danger of eliminating health care. But
that — those remarks of mine have been viewed more than three million times in
this country.
And what that said is that so many people connected to what
I’m going through and to what — which is what they’re going through. And so
people come up to me now and tell me they have cancer. They’re cancer
survivors, and so I think it’s really important for people in our country to
know that there are those of us who are just fighting for them every single
day.
Maddow: Senator
Mazie Hirono of Hawai’i, thank you very much for being with us.
Hirono: Thank you.
Aloha.
Maddow: Aloha. I
appreciate it. I will say what Senator Hirono was saying there, about how much
people care about this issue and how much people have at stake. We don’t really
know at this point what the prospects are that the Republicans are going to be
able to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Under these parliamentary rulings, they
do have to do it fast if they’re going to do it. The vote count right now on
the Republican side is absolutely not clear. Once again, if they lose three
Republican Senators, it will be over.
But I think if this thing starts to be seen as a real
prospect, you’re going to see people out in the streets and demonstrating in
arms to try to save the ACA again, just as quickly as you saw it the last time
it was at risk in this country. Nothing motivates people more than the prospect
of losing their health care. All right. We’ll be right back.
