[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 73 (Thursday, May 4, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6138-S6139]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SENATE AGENDA

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I am very pleased that the leader has 
reserved some time to discuss general matters. I want to tie a few 
pieces together.
  Before Senator Wellstone took to the floor, the Senator from Missouri 
was praising a Supreme Court decision that gave more power to the 
States. Rather than get into that decision, I want to point out that in 
vote after vote, the vast majority of my Republican friends here in the 
Senate have voted in these last few days to replace State product 
liability laws, State medical malpractice--indeed, all other civil 
laws--with Federal laws, with Federal caps.
  We certainly know--at least I certainly feel confident in stating to 
the American people--that these changes are going to hurt them. They 
are going to hurt consumers in our Nation by substituting politicians' 
judgments for local judges and juries.
  Here we have spent many, many days and many, many hours on a power 
grab--essentially, a Federal Government power grab--brought by this 
Republican Congress in the Contract With America, a power grab to say 
that we in the almighty Senate know better than a judge or jury what 
someone who has been burned beyond recognition ought to be able to get 
from those at fault; what someone who perhaps was paralyzed should get; 
what someone would be able to get if a physician, perhaps in a stupor, 
makes a dreadful mistake. We have heard of some of those situations 
occurring.
  I think it is very ironic that Senators would come to the floor on 
the Republican side and talk about how they think more power ought to 
be invested in the States and then support this kind of a bill.
  I hope today, when we vote cloture, that we will be able to stop this 
horrific bill from becoming a law of the land.
  Mr. President, while I feel we should not be doing that, there are 
many other things I feel we should be doing here in the Senate, that we 
should be working on.
  One of those, certainly, to my mind, is the confirmation of a new 
Surgeon General for this country, Dr. Henry Foster. I want to say that, 
in between my going to committees and my work on the floor, I have 
watched Dr. Foster. I am very proud of the way he handled himself.
  I see, today, he has gained the support of one Republican on the 
committee, assuring that there will be at least a tie vote. I want to 
reiterate to the majority leader, Senator Dole, what I have written to 
him twice about. I see that the Democrat leader is on the floor and I 
want to thank him for being so clear on this point.
  Americans are fair, Mr. President. Americans are just. The fact is, 
this man deserves to be heard on this Senate floor.
  We have an AIDS epidemic, we have a breast cancer epidemic, we have a 
lung cancer epidemic, we have an epidemic of teen pregnancies, we have 
too many cases of Alzheimer's, cancer, and heart disease in this 
country.
  We have too much smoking going on in this country, too many young 
kids taking up smoking. We need a Surgeon General. I do not know why it 
has to take 3 more weeks for the committee to vote out Dr. Foster, but 
so be it.
  I want to say today on the floor what I have written to Senator Dole, 
that if Senator Dole refuses to bring this nomination to the floor, 
even if it is a tie vote or, Mr. President, even if it is a losing 
vote, if Senator Dole refuses to bring this nomination to the floor, I 
reserve my right as a Senator to object to Senate business until we can 
have this nomination on the floor. Senator Dodd yesterday said he 
thought it would be childish for Members to avoid this discussion on 
the floor and I want to, again, say that I agree with that.
  Now, Mr. President, I would like to speak to one question in my 
remaining 5 minutes. Where is the Republican budget? Where is the 
Republican budget? By law, the Budget Committee was required to 
complete work on that budget by April 1. It is May 3, 33 days after 
that date, and we still have no budget. By law, the entire Congress is 
required to complete work on the budget by April 15. It is May 3--18 
days after that date--and still no budget.
  For years, my Republican colleagues have said we could easily 
eliminate the deficit, and we know how. Not one of my Republicans 
friends voted for the budget last year, which cut $500 billion from the 
deficit--not one. They said, ``We can do it better; we can do it 
[[Page S6139]] quicker; we can do it.'' Where is the budget?
  My Republican friends have overpromised: More military spending; 
balancing the budget by 2002; tax cuts, going up to over $200,000, 
people will get tax cuts. Yes, they have a problem. They looked at that 
budget and they saw only one place to go--Medicare. When it got out 
that they were looking at cuts of $250 billion out of a program that 75 
percent of Americans treasure, they started to get a little weak in the 
knees. They said: What are we going to do? Tell the people that 
Medicare is in crisis. This is the new turn of events. Medicare is in 
crisis, they say.
  Well, I have looked, looked at all the reports that have come from 
the Medicare trustees over the years. There has not been a year when 
Medicare trustees did not say, at some point in the future, Medicare 
will be in trouble. This year is no exception, because when this 
Congress was Democratic, we voted to shore up the Medicare fund by 
making some tax law changes.
  The Republicans in the House repealed that. If their law continues, 
Medicare will be in trouble in 1999. If we can stave them off, we have 
the fund solvent until 2002.
  Yes, we have to fix Medicare. Yes, we have to reform Medicare. Yes, 
we have to do it right. But not slash and burn. And not outside of the 
context of comprehensive reform.
  I will say that if the Republicans succeed in this, our seniors will 
be thrown into managed care; they will lose the doctor of their choice; 
they will have to pay more out-of-pocket expenses, and many hospitals 
in California are going to close.
  Let Members stand tall as Democrats in this U.S. Senate. Let Members 
demand to see this budget. Let Members say to our seniors that we will 
stand for seniors and we will not allow the seniors of this country to 
have the budget balanced on their backs. They deserve more respect than 
that; they deserve much more than that.
  Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
  Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the minority leader from 
South Dakota.

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