[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 11 (Thursday, February 12, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S707-S708]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE DEMOCRATIC AGENDA

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I strongly support the legislative 
priorities announced today by President Clinton, Vice President Gore, 
Senator Daschle, and Congressman Gephardt.
  These priorities contain a number of major Democratic initiatives to 
protect Social Security and to help working families across the country 
on key issues such as jobs, education, health care, and the 
environment. And I look forward to their enactment this year.
  One of the pillars of our Democratic agenda is a commitment to raise 
the minimum wage by 50 cents in each of the next 2 years. Our proposal 
will increase the minimum wage from its current level of $5.15 an hour 
to $5.65 an hour on January 1, 1999, to $6.15 an hour on January 1 in 
the year 2000. In 1996, after a hard-fought battle in the last 
Congress, we raised the minimum wage by comparable amounts with no 
adverse effects whatever on the economy. The scare tactics about lost 
jobs proved to be as false as they are self-serving.
  A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute contains documents 
that the sky hasn't fallen as a result of the last increase. Raising 
the minimum wage does not cause job loss for teenagers, adults, men, 
women, African Americans, Latinos, or anyone else. Twelve million 
Americans benefited from raising the minimum wage, and they deserve the 
increase that we are proposing.
  To have the purchasing power it had in 1989, the minimum wage today 
would have to be $7.33 an hour. That figure is still well above the 
level that we are proposing. That fact is a measure of how far we have 
not just fallen short but actually fallen back in giving low-income 
workers their fair share of our extraordinary economic growth.
  In the past 30 years, the stock market, adjusted for inflation, has 
gone up by over 100 percent while the purchasing power of the minimum 
wage has gone down by 30 percent. We know who these minimum wage 
workers are. Sixty-percent are women. Nearly three-quarters are adults. 
Half of those who would benefit work full time. Over 80 percent work at 
least 20 hours a week. They are teacher's aides, child care providers. 
They are single heads of households with children. They are people who 
clean office buildings in countless communities across the country 
working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year.
  Minimum wage workers earn $10,712 a year, $2,600 below the poverty 
level for a family of three. Low-income workers don't just deserve a 
wage; they urgently need a raise. Nationwide, soup kitchens, food 
pantries, and homeless shelters are increasingly serving the working 
poor--not just the unemployed.

  In 1996, according to a recent U.S. Conference of Mayors study, 38 
percent of those seeking emergency food aid held jobs, up from 23 
percent in 1994. Low-paying jobs are now almost the most frequently 
cited cause of hunger. Officials in 77 percent of cities cited this 
factor.
  The American people understand the unfairness of requiring working 
families to subsist on a subpoverty minimum wage.
  I look forward to the early enactment of the increase we are 
proposing. Twelve million working Americans deserve a helping hand.
  In good conscience we cannot continue to proclaim and celebrate the 
Nation's current prosperity while consigning millions who have jobs to 
live in continuing poverty. No one who works for a living should have 
to live in poverty in the United States of America.
  The second pillar of the Democratic agenda is the Patient's Bill of 
Rights on health insurance.
  Few issues are more important to all working families than quality, 
affordable health care. Every family needs and deserves good medical 
care when a loved one is ill. Every family that has faithfully paid its 
premiums to its insurance plan deserves to receive the benefits the 
plan has promised. The American family knows that this promise is 
broken too often because unscrupulous insurance companies put profit 
ahead of patients.
  In movie theaters across the country today audiences erupt in 
spontaneous cheers when the character portrayed by actress Helen Hunt 
explodes in frustration over the callous treatment that she and her son 
received from her managed care plan. The movie ``As Good As It Gets'' 
has been nominated for major academy awards.
  But managed care today isn't receiving any awards, and neither is 
Congress for our lack of needed action to end these flagrant abuses.
  The problems are obvious. Insurance company accountants should not be 
allowed to practice medicine. It is time to guarantee women the right 
to see a gynecologist. No breast cancer patient should be forced by 
health insurance plans to have a drop-by mastectomy when hospital care 
is needed. No patients with a rare or dangerous disease should be 
denied the right to be treated by a specialist. No child's health or 
very life should be at risk because a parent feels forced to drive past 
the nearest emergency room to a more distant hospital that is the only 
hospital covered by the group plan. No doctor should be subjected to 
gag rules, financial incentives, or financial penalties to prohibit or 
discourage them from giving patients the best medical advice. 
Reasonable review procedures should be available to anyone denied 
coverage or treatment by their insurance plan. Patients with an 
incurable

[[Page S708]]

illness should be allowed to participate in clinical trials of new 
therapies that offer the hope of improvement and cure.
  The Republican leadership has told the special interests to ``get off 
their butts and get out their wallets'' to fight any legislation that 
puts the interests of working families ahead of the interests of 
unscrupulous insurers. But with the President and the congressional 
Democrats unified for reform, I am confident that we will prevail and 
that our Patient's Bill of Rights will be signed into law this year.
  A second health issue that is critical to millions of families is 
access to health insurance for those too young for Medicare but too 
hold for affordable private coverage.
  Our Democratic agenda offers these families immediate health and 
hope. We propose to allow them to buy into Medicare at a price that is 
far more affordable than the private market offers, if it offers them 
any insurance at all.
  Three million Americans between the ages of 55 and 65 have no health 
insurance. The consequences are often tragic. As a group they are in 
relatively poor health, and their health continues to deteriorate the 
longer they are uninsured. They have no protection against the cost of 
serious illness. They are often unable to afford the routine care that 
can prevent minor illnesses from turning into serious disabilities, or 
even becoming life threatening. The number of uninsured in this group 
is growing every day.

  Between 1991 and 1995, the proportion of today's workers whose 
employers promise them benefits if they retire early dropped 12 
percent. Barely a third now have such a promise. In recent years too 
many who have counted on employer commitment have found themselves with 
only a broken promise and their coverage canceled after they have 
already retired.
  The plight of older workers who lose their jobs through layoffs or 
downsizing is equally grim. It is difficult to find a new job at 55 or 
60, and it is even harder to a find job that comes with health 
insurance.
  For these older Americans who are left out and left behind for no 
fault of their own after decades of hard work, Democrats are offering a 
helping hand. By allowing these workers to buy affordable coverage 
through Medicare, our Democratic proposal is a lifeline for millions of 
these Americans. It provides a bridge to help them through the years 
before full Medicare eligibility. It is a constructive step towards the 
day when every American of any age will finally be guaranteed the 
fundamental right to health care.
  Our proposal places no additional burden on Medicare. It is fully 
paid for by premiums from the beneficiaries themselves and by savings 
from fraud and abuse.
  Democrats will fight hard for this commonsense approach to helping 
older workers and their families. And Congress should respond.
  In addition, on education, President Clinton and the Democrats in 
Congress have also made it a top priority to see that America has the 
best public schools in the world. We intend to do all we can to see 
that we have reached that goal.
  Successful schools need a qualified teacher in every classroom making 
sure that children get the individual attention they need. That is why 
another main pillar of the Democratic agenda is to provide 100,000 new 
teachers for America's public schools. The shortage has forced school 
districts to hire more than 50,000 uncertified teachers a year, or ask 
certified teachers to teach outside their area of expertise. One in 
four new teachers dot not fully meet State certification requirements, 
and 12 percent of new hires have no teacher training at all.
  In Massachusetts, 30 percent of teachers in high-poverty schools do 
not even have a minor degree in their field.
  Our Democratic proposal will also encourage State efforts to reduce 
class size by providing additional teachers needed to fill the smaller 
classrooms.
  Our proposal will also help schools meet their urgent needs for 
repair, renovation, modernization, and new construction.
  Investing in schools is one of the best investments America could 
possibly make. For schools across America, help can't come a minute too 
soon, and our Democratic proposal provides it.
  On key issues, such as the minimum wage, health care, and education, 
the Democratic priorities put working families first.
  Our proposals are investments in a better life for all of our 
families and a better future for the country. Special interests will 
fight hard to keep these proposals from becoming law. But Democrats in 
Congress and the President will fight harder because we know that the 
American people are with us.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. LOTT addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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