[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 178 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14034-S14035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ECONOMIC STIMULUS

  Mr. VOINOVICH. Mr. President, I rise to express my disappointment 
that the Senate did not have an opportunity today to vote on the White 
House and Senate Centrist Coalition compromise on the economic stimulus 
package to aid dislocated workers. I think the stimulus package, if 
passed, would have made a real difference for the American people. It 
would have helped individuals and families. It would have helped create 
jobs, or at least maintain jobs. And it would have responded to the 
needs of laid-off workers and their families.
  Early this fall, when it became clear to me that our nation was in 
recession, I decided to get actively involved in developing and 
advocating a stimulus package. I recognized the package that was coming 
out of the House could not get through the Senate because it wasn't 
balanced. So I gathered together with my other colleagues in the 
Centrist Coalition. Six of us from the Coalition were the ones who 
really were the nucleus of it--I was one of them with Olympia Snowe and 
Susan Collins, and on the Democrat side there was John Breaux and two 
of my colleagues who were former Governors, Zell Miller, who was a 
former Governor of Georgia, and Ben Nelson, the former Governor of 
Nebraska.
  We decided we would try to put something together that would be fair, 
and that would respond to the need to stimulate the economy, and at the 
same time, respond to the human needs that we see throughout this 
country. We wanted to try to work something out, and see if we could 
get something through Congress and particularly through the Senate.
  We worked very conscientiously on that package. We finally were able 
to get the ear of the White House and got them to be part of this 
compromise package. Yesterday we were able to convince the leadership 
in the House of Representatives that it was a fair package, although a 
far cry from the package they had adopted. We had hoped that, somehow, 
miraculously, maybe, we would have had an opportunity to vote on that 
package in the Senate.
  The Republican leader, Senator Lott, talked about the fact that maybe 
during the period of time we are in recess, pressure will build up and 
maybe we will get a bill passed. Or maybe the pressure will not be out 
there and we will not need to pass a piece of legislation. However, I 
am here to tell you that this legislation is needed now.
  This afternoon I met with about 50 steelworkers from Cleveland, OH, 
from LTV steel. That company is in bankruptcy. Their jobs are gone and 
they are displaced. They are petrified because they do not know how 
they are going to be able to take care of their medical costs. Their 
company had a health plan, but COBRA is no longer an option because the 
company is out of business. They are worried about how they are going 
to provide health care for their families. They will get their 
unemployment benefits, but they are really concerned about how to pay 
for their health care coverage.
  I pointed out to them that the stimulus package the Centrist 
Coalition put together would subsidize their health care to the tune of 
60 percent. They were pleased to learn that their was hope that someone 
would help them, that they could get insurance for their families to 
get them over this very difficult period. I can tell you: they are 
frightened.
  I think so often when we talk about stimulus packages, we get caught 
up in the dollar amounts and we don't talk about real people. That is 
what this is about. For example, the rebate program that is in our 
stimulus package would provide help to some 38 million low-income 
workers who didn't qualify for rebate checks the last time around. 
Those rebates would mean $13.5 billion would go into the pockets of 
those individuals to help them with their problems. And I am sure it 
would help stimulate the economy because they would likely spend that 
money.
  Some describe the reduction in marginal rates as an awful thing 
because of the fact that we would reduce the marginal rate from 27\1/2\ 
down to 25 percent. I would like to point out that we are talking about 
single people who make between $28,000 and $68,000, and married couples 
who make between $47,000 and $113,000. That is about one-third of the 
taxpayers in this country, some 36 million people, who would have 
benefitted if we had gone forward with these rate reductions. Between 
the 38 million beneficiaries of the rebate checks, and the 36 million 
who would benefit from the reduction in marginal rates, a total of 74 
million Americans would have been able to take advantage of this 
package.
  The thing I would really like to concentrate on is the part of this 
package that deals with health care. When we got started debating the 
stimulus package, the House passed a package that had something like $3 
billion for health care. Likewise, the President's package had also had 
$3 billion. Our centrist package had $13.5 billion. The Democratic 
Finance Committee proposal was $16.7 billion. At the end of the day, 
the Centrist Coalition and White House compromise package had $21 
billion in it for dislocated workers' health care, money for the States 
for national emergency grants, including $4 billion to the States for 
Medicaid funding.
  Now I would like to talk about what we do for displaced workers.
  First of all, we include an extension of 13 weeks of unemployment 
benefits--benefits that would be available to those who became 
unemployed between March 15, 2001, and December 31 at the end of next 
year. An estimated 3 million unemployed workers would qualify for 
benefits averaging about $230 a week. Those extended benefits would be 
100-percent federally funded at a cost of about $10 billion to the 
Federal Government, so States wouldn't have to pick up the tab.
  The bill would allow states to accelerate the transfer of $9 billion 
from State unemployment trust funds so they could distribute that money 
earlier than now possible. This transfer of money, which already 
belongs to the states, would help State treasuries, which are in dire 
straits today. This proposed advance would provide the States with the 
flexibility to pay administrative costs, provide additional benefits 
for part-time workers, adopt alternative base periods, and avoid 
raising their unemployment taxes during the current recessionary times.

  Next, let us look at health care benefits.
  The Centrist Coalition and White House compromise proposal includes 
$19 billion in health care assistance for dislocated workers.
  It provides a refundable, advanceable tax credit to all displaced 
workers, who are eligible for unemployment insurance, for the purchase 
of health insurance--not just individuals who are eligible for COBRA 
coverage.
  Individuals with access to health insurance through a spouse wouldn't 
be eligible and couldn't get the credit.
  However, the credit is available to unemployed people who do not have 
access to coverage through COBRA, since their employers did not provide 
health insurance or their employer went out of business. Under this 
bill, these individuals would have been able to get a 60-percent 
subsidy of their health insurance costs without any cap on the dollar 
amount of subsidy.
  The proposal also includes reforms to ensure that people have access 
to health insurance coverage in the individual market. If a person has 
12 months of employer-sponsored coverage, rather than 18 months as 
under the current law, health insurers are required to issue a policy 
and not impose any preexisting condition exclusion. In other words, if 
someone has a preexisting exclusion for which they would ordinarily be 
disqualified from getting health insurance, this reform requires that 
they be able to obtain health insurance.
  The Centrist and White House proposal also includes $4 billion in 
enhanced national emergency grants for the States which Governors could 
use to help all workers--not just those eligible for the tax credit. 
They could use this to pay for health insurance in both public and 
private plans. In other

[[Page S14035]]

words, we would be paying $4 billion out to the States so they can 
reach out and help people in their respective States who are not 
covered by some of the particular provisions in the stimulus package.
  Last if not least, the centrist package provides a $4.6 billion, one-
time grant to assist states with their Medicaid programs.
  I worked with the National Governors Association and the Bush 
administration to try to get them to understand that the State 
governments are not like the Federal Government. States are in deep 
budgetary trouble because they have to balance their budgets every 
year. The money isn't there for them to take care of the many needs 
they face. This $4.6 billion grant would have gone out to the States to 
help them provide Medicaid for the neediest of our brothers and 
sisters. In many States they are going to have to cut Medicaid payments 
because they simply don't have the money since their State treasuries 
are in such deep financial trouble.
  I hope my colleagues understand that this is not some kind of a game. 
We are talking about real human beings.
  This morning at a press conference, one of the reporters said to me: 
I understand the problem with this stimulus bill is that the majority 
leader has a problem with the philosophy of it.
  I said that this bill responds to most of the concerns that have been 
raised by my colleagues from the other side of the aisle.

  Think about it. When was the last time Congress gave serious 
consideration to providing health care to unemployed workers? I don't 
ever recall such consideration before. But this time, we have been able 
to get a Republican administration and a Republican House of 
Representatives to consider providing health insurance to unemployed 
workers. That was a breakthrough in terms of dealing with the 
unemployed and displaced workers in this country.
  I happen to believe that if this proposal had come from the other 
side of the aisle and not from the centrist coalition and the White 
House, many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would have 
been very much in favor of this proposal.
  I am hoping, as we all go home and look into the eyes of the people 
who will come and see us because they have lost their jobs, and are 
panicked about health care for themselves and their families, that we 
start to understand we have an obligation to touch their lives. And to 
do this, the first thing we need to do when we come back to this 
chamber is pass a stimulus package that addressed the needs of 
unemployed men and women. We need to restore people's faith in their 
economy and restore people's faith that we do care about them.
  The thing that really bothers me about our failure to pass a stimulus 
package, is that so many people anticipated we would do so. They really 
did. They were counting on us, as did the financial markets. I think 
from a psychological point of view, we have really done a disservice to 
the American people, particularly at a time when we are all going home 
to celebrate Christmas and the holidays.
  What a lousy Christmas present we are giving to the people of 
America. Shame on us. I hope when we come back in January that we will 
make it up to them. They need our help.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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