[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 25, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S376-S377]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ISSUES FACING THE SENATE

  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I also wish to take a few minutes, as 
others have, to talk about some of the issues that will be before us. 
We have a great opportunity now to move forward on these issues, many 
of which we have discussed in the last session. Many are ready to be 
acted upon, and I hope we can do that.
  We need to talk about taxes and simplifying taxes. We need to talk 
about ensuring that we have the tax support there to create jobs and 
strengthen the economy. We seem to be moving in the right direction. I 
think the tax reductions have proven themselves to be useful, but many 
of them, particularly on taxes such as the estate tax, unless that is 
made permanent so people can have confidence in their investments, they 
really do not fully do what we hoped they would do.
  We need to continue to work to keep America safe; security is 
probably our top priority. We have made a considerable amount of change 
in that area. We need to continue to evaluate that, of course, and 
ensure that we have the best.
  I hope we can come back to deal with the issue of energy--clean, 
economic energy. That is, again, one of the basic issues in creating 
jobs, in growing an economy, and one that we have worked on now for 
several years.
  We had a long meeting yesterday. We had a series of meetings to talk 
about the need for conservation, to talk about the need for efficiency. 
We talked about the need for alternative sources of energy--renewable 
energy as well as domestic production. Those things are so important. 
Yet, somehow, we have not been able to move forward. I cannot think of 
anything that is more important to us than to have a policy with 
respect to the future, to be able to look into the future with regard 
to energy.
  I suspect most of my friends here would agree that as they go home 
and meet with people, one of the issues that is most often talked about 
is the cost of health care. It is a tough issue. I think we have a good 
health care system, probably the best in the world, but we are getting 
to the point where access to that system is being limited by the cost. 
I am not just talking about Medicare or Medicaid; I am talking about 
health care generally. I am talking about families on the ranch,

[[Page S377]]

for example, when they have to pay for their own and it costs $15,000 a 
year for insurance. I am talking about the things we might do to give 
more tax-free savings accounts so these insurance policies can be more 
for coverage of catastrophic events and be less expensive and we can 
have more ownership in them. Those are the kinds of things we need to 
take a look at.
  We need to promote agriculture in our trade programs that will be 
coming up. Agriculture is a very difficult issue with respect to 
foreign trade, but it is very important.
  I spent some time in Argentina at the global warming meeting and I 
got some insight as to what is happening in Brazil and Argentina in 
terms of livestock production, and it is going to be enormous. We have 
to be prepared.
  Obviously, we will be talking about changes in Social Security. We 
will be meeting with the President today, with the Finance Committee, 
to get better ideas of what the details are, but clearly we need to do 
something there.
  The highway bill--we have gone several years without the highway bill 
we passed some time ago. Can you think of anything more important in 
our communities than to maintain and develop new highways and keep them 
up? We have not done that, and we need to do it.

  Tort reform--whether it is broad, whether it is class action suits, 
whether it is malpractice in health care--these are issues we need to 
accomplish. We talk about them, we argue about them, and then we walk 
away from them. It seems to me there are a number of those issues where 
we ought to just buckle down and come to the snugging post and do some 
things that need to be done.
  Spending? I don't think any of us deny that we need to do something 
about spending. We need to do something about the deficit that we have 
created--that we have created. We need to do some things there.
  I think we have some real opportunities to do some more than we have 
in the past. We have a chance to move forward.
  Class action is apparently going to be out here soon. Clearly, there 
are some changes that need to be made. The whole tort reform area is 
difficult. Nevertheless, we ought to be able to do that.
  Those are the things I hope we can take a long look at. I know we all 
have some different ideas about what the priorities ought to be. But it 
is pretty clear some of these things need to be handled. There are 
different views about how they need to be handled, but something needs 
to be done about them, and it is our responsibility to do that. We can 
fuss and have disagreements and walk off the floor and all that sort of 
thing, but the fact is, it is our responsibility to do things. It is 
our opportunity to do them now. I look forward to a productive session. 
I hope we can get started very soon.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut is recognized.

                          ____________________