Congressional Record, Volume 151 Issue 167 (Wednesday, December 21, 2005)

[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 167 (Wednesday, December 21, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14202-S14221]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

DEFICIT REDUCTION ACT OF 2005--CONFERENCE REPORT

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the
Senate will resume consideration of the conference report to accompany
S. 1932, which the clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:

Conference report to accompany S. 1932, an act to provide
for reconciliation pursuant to section 202(a) of the
concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2006.

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, there
will be 5 minutes each for the Senator from New Hampshire and the
Senator from North Dakota.
The Senator from the great State of North Dakota.
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, the legislation before us suggests that it
is deficit reduction. There are three chapters to this book on
reconciliation. You have to read all three chapters to understand the
meaning of the book. The first chapter provides spending cuts of $40
billion over 5 years. Those spending cuts disproportionately take from
those who have the least among us. Chapter 2 provides $70 billion of
tax cuts. So the combined effect of chapters 1 and 2 is not to reduce
the deficit, it increases the deficit. And the tax cuts give to those
who have the most among us.
The Chaplain, in his prayer this morning, asked us to lead lives that
will be living sermons--lives that will be living sermons. I do not
know of any church that teaches to take from those who have the least
among us to give to those who have the most among us.
The third chapter in this book provides for a debt limit increase of
$781 billion--one of the largest increases in the debt of our country,
in the history of our country.
This first chapter, as I have indicated, contains $40 billion of
spending cuts over 5 years. But the second chapter will cut taxes by
$70 billion over that same period. The net result is not deficit
reduction; it is an increase in the deficit.
If we are to focus just on this first chapter, and put it into
perspective, here is what we see: spending cuts of $40 billion. It is
almost indecipherable how much that is in relationship to what we will
be spending over the next 5 years. We will be spending $14.3 trillion
over the next 5 years. So our colleagues on the other side have managed
to cut one three-hundred fiftieth--one three-hundred fiftieth--of the
spending. But then in chapter 2 they are going to come here and
eliminate that deficit reduction by the tax cuts--again, spending
reductions from those who have the least among us to give to those who
have the most among us. And the extraordinary irony of all of this is
that all of this--if this is implemented, the budget that is being
passed--is building a wall of debt that is unprecedented in the history
of our country.
If this budget is actually implemented over the next 5 years, it will
increase the debt of our country from $7.9 trillion to $11.3 trillion.
This is not just my estimate, this is the estimate of the people who
have written this package.
This is from their own document. They say the debt of the country
will increase each and every year by over $600 billion. This is before
the baby boomers retire. If you like deficits and debt, if you want to
pass on a massive debt to our children, this is your chance. Vote for
this package.
It took 42 Presidents 224 years to run up a trillion dollars of
external debt, debt held by foreigners. This President has more than
doubled that amount in 5 years. This is going in the wrong direction.
The result is, we now owe Japan over $680 billion. We owe China almost
$250 billion. We owe the ``Caribbean Banking Centers'' more than $100
billion.
In addition to the explosion of deficits and debt, these provisions
in this chapter of the book are unfair to those who have the least
among us: Medicaid cuts targeting low-income beneficiaries, child
support enforcement cuts, foster care cuts, on and on it goes. The
spending cuts are being done to make room for more tax cuts. House Ways
and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas told a group of GOP lobbyists
the spending cuts are necessary to make room for the tax-cutting
legislation.
I will be making points of order against this bill because we believe
this bill has violated the rules of this body in instance after
instance after instance, repeated violations of the rules. At the
appropriate time, I will bring a point of order.
I conclude as I began: This legislation, taken as a whole, all of the
chapters of reconciliation, will increase the deficit and debt of our
country, will have one of the largest increases in debt, $781 billion,
in our Nation's history. In addition to that, this has the wrong
priorities, taking from the least among us to give to those who have
the most among us. That is wrong.
I thank the Chair.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Hampshire.
Mr. GREGG. What is the time situation?

[[Page S14203]]

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Hampshire has
5 minutes.
Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, every so often in this body--and it is
quite rare--we come to a point where a vote must be cast in order to
determine whether the words you speak are going to be complied with.
That is this vote. All of us in this Congress tend to talk about fiscal
responsibility. We all are concerned about our children and the type of
Nation we are going to leave them. We know that because of the
retirement of the baby boom generation, our children will face huge
financial stress from the costs of Government. We know that we have on
the books approximately $44 to $55 trillion of unfunded liability in
the area of Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security accounts that
benefit seniors. That huge number is a result of the fact that there is
a huge generation about to retire called the postwar baby boom
generation.
The question for us, as stewards of this Nation and as stewards of
our children and our grandchildren's future, is whether we are going to
pass on to them this type of debt or whether we are going to step on to
the turf of trying to address that issue before it overwhelms us.
Whether our children have an opportunity to live as good as our
generation has, to send their children to college, to own a home, to be
able to live in an America which is prosperous, will be determined by
whether we, as a government, are responsible in what debt and
obligations we pass on to them.
For 8 years, we have ignored this problem. Today we have an
opportunity to address it. This will be the first time that this
Congress in 8 years has stepped onto the turf, put our toe in the
water--actually, we are going up to our ankles--to address the issue of
future responsibilities and how we control the spending of the Federal
Government in the outyears.
We have addressed the issues on the appropriations side,
discretionary spending, but we have refused, over the last 8 years, to
address the issue of mandatory spending or entitlement programs. This
is not a major step forward. I wish it was bigger. The Senator from
North Dakota held up charts which show how unfortunate it is in its
size, that it is not larger. He has pointed out that it is $40 billion
on $14 trillion of spending. He calls that one three hundred fiftieth
of a percent. It is actually about a half a percent of the spending
during that period. But the point is, if we do not proceed at this
time, if we do not go forward, it is still going to be $40 billion of
debt that we pass on to our children. That is what this vote is about.
It is not about the tax issue. This isn't a tax bill. It is not about
the debt issue in the sense that it is not the debt extension vote. It
is the one vote that we will have as a Congress to try to control the
outyear debt of this country through restraining spending. It will be
the first time that we have stepped forward on the issue of one of the
major entitlements, specifically Medicaid. We don't do a great deal on
the numbers side of Medicaid. I wish we had done a lot more, and I
tried to do a lot more. But we do take significant steps in the area of
policy, on how we address Medicaid by essentially taking what the
Governors have proposed, in a bipartisan approach, and putting that
language into this bill to give the Governors more flexibility as to
how they deliver Medicaid in the States, thus allowing them to deliver
more services to more people at less of a rate of growth.

That is reflected in this chart. We can see that dedicated spending
is going to go up 40 percent under this bill. It would go up 40 percent
under the law, generally. We essentially reduce the rate of growth, not
dramatically, but we put in place policies which will allow us to
improve the system and care for more children more effectively.
This is it, folks. This is the only chance we are going to have this
year. It is the only chance in the last 8 years to actually step
forward and do something about deficit spending on the entitlement
side.
This is our responsibility to our children. We should pass this bill,
or else we should ask ourselves what type of public policy are we
pursuing and what type of stewards are we of our children's future.
This is the one vote we will have to reduce the rate of growth of the
Federal Government.
I believe we have now used the 5 minutes.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator is correct.
Mr. GREGG. On both sides?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator is correct.
Mr. GREGG. I ask unanimous consent that as we debate the issue of
points of order, which the Senator from North Dakota is going to make,
we have 4 minutes on both sides.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. CONRAD. Has the Senator yielded?
Mr. GREGG. Yes.
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, could the Chair advise us, what is the
parliamentary circumstance we confront? My understanding is I am to be
recognized to make a point of order at this point.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator is correct.
Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Chair.
Mr. President, this bill contains many violations of the rules. We
are here because the majority insisted on ramming through bad
legislation at the last moment with little or no public scrutiny. This
774-page bill was written behind closed doors with no input from the
minority. It was filed in the dead of night and voted on in the House
at the crack of dawn. Then House Members left town.
Let's remember that reconciliation is a special parliamentary process
that allows legislation to be passed with fast-track procedures that
restrict a Senator's right to debate and amend. Because of these fast-
track procedures, the Byrd rule was adopted to prohibit extraneous,
nonbudget-related provisions from being included.
The points of order that I am raising are all violations of the Byrd
rule. I now raise these three points of order:
One, striking the Medicaid medical liability provision, which allows
hospitals to deny treatment to low-income individuals who are unable to
pay. Not only is the majority raising copayments on low-income Medicaid
beneficiaries, but they are shielding hospitals from medical liability
if they refuse to treat those low-income people who are unable to pay.
That is wrong.
Two, striking the foster care provision that would prohibit
grandparents from receiving foster care payments. The conference report
includes a provision to overturn a Ninth Circuit Court case that
allowed grandparents with limited incomes to receive foster care
payments when parenting vulnerable children. That is as mean spirited
as it is ill-conceived. We know that placing foster kids with their
grandparents puts them in the most stable and healthy environment.
Prohibiting support for grandparents who take in foster children is
wrong.
Three, I am also raising points of order against reports focusing on
policy matters that do not belong in a reconciliation bill. These
reports have no budgetary effect whatsoever and should not be here.
I hope my colleagues will support these points of order so we can
send this bill back to House. Let's use this opportunity to create a
better product for the American people.
Mr. President, I raise the point of order pursuant----
Mr. GREGG. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. CONRAD. Let me conclude first.
Mr. GREGG. My question is whether I should make my statement before
the Senator makes the point of order.
Mr. CONRAD. That is fine.
Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, the Senator from North Dakota has been
cooperative and very fair, as he always has been when proceeding on
these bills. He is a true professional. I know the Chair has been
advised as to what the four points of order are.
I have a parliamentary inquiry: Does the Chair deem the foster care
point of order to be well taken if that question is put to the Chair?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Chair does not believe that
particular point of order is well taken.
Mr. GREGG. Basically, if I may continue, we would be dealing with
three points of order as being well taken if they are put to the Chair?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. That is correct.

[[Page S14204]]

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, might I inquire, on the other three points
of order that I have raised, would the Chair rule that those points of
order are in fact in order and appropriate?
Mr. GREGG. Not at this time is the question.
Mr. CONRAD. Yes.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. When it is time, under the rule,
the Chair will in fact so rule.
Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Chair. I thank my colleague. We have worked
in a professional and cooperative way. I thank the Chairman for his
inquiry.
Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, the Democratic leader on the bill has every
right to make a point of order. Clearly, the Chair will rule they are
well taken. Let's talk about the substance quickly.
They are essentially technical points of order. Two deal with reports
and the other with an issue of liability which is very narrow, dealing
with what people are told when they come into an emergency room.
Essentially, the practical effect of doing these technical attacks on
this bill will be that the bill must go back to the House of
Representatives and the House of Representatives is going to agree and
knock that language out. But the House is not here.
So what is the real practical effect of this? It is that the Katrina
money in this bill will not be spent. The TANF Program, the welfare
program, will lapse. The Medicare physicians payments increase, which
basically makes Medicare physicians whole, will not occur. Transitional
medical assistance for families who worked their way off welfare will
be lost. And the therapy caps for seniors who suffer strokes will be
lost during this interim period.
Why would we want to do that simply to go through a technical
exercise? It makes no sense at all, other than the fact that the other
side of the aisle wants to delay the process. But in the process of
delaying for purely technical reasons--I mean, two reports are being
challenged. We get thousands of reports in this institution. To delay
the Katrina benefits for the people in the gulf coast region who have
suffered is outrageous, over two reports.
To potentially stop welfare payments for up to a month because the
House cannot get back here is outrageous, over two reports. To stop
transitional medical assistance is outrageous, over two reports. To say
nothing of the other reports. I realize if we don't enact this bill by
the end of this year, there are $18 billion worth of subsidies that are
going to flow to corporate lenders which are totally inappropriate,
which the HELP Committee has said we have to stop. But those subsidies
will go to those lenders. The money will potentially be lost, and that
money that was going to be used to reduce debt and give students more
loans will be lost, potentially, unless we get this bill done by the
end of the year.
We have serious issues that have to be addressed. They should not be
tied up over technicalities. That is what these points of order are
about.
Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I support the point of order raised by
Senator Conrad on the budget reconciliation bill. Under the Byrd rule,
any provisions in a final budget reconciliation bill that are
extraneous to changing the budget can be stricken. Section 6043, the
emergency room copayments for non-emergency care provisions, clearly
violates the Byrd rule.
Section 6043 makes far-reaching policy changes never debated in the
Senate that have no place in a budge reconciliation bill. Although the
provision makes major changes to Medicaid, the Emergency Medical
Treatment and Labor Act, EMTALA, and even State medical malpractice
liability policy, it only generates net savings of $11 million over 5
years, one-tenth of a percent of the original budget target.
Section 6043 allows States to impose new higher costs for Medicaid
patients seeking emergency room care and allows hospitals to turn
patients away if they cannot pay when the hospital says there is no
emergency. Under current law, Medicaid requires hospitals to provide
access to emergency care when it is medically needed. In fact, Medicaid
HMOs are required to cover care in cases where the individual
reasonably believes there is an emergency, even when no emergency
exists. And Federal law requires hospitals to screen and stabilize
patients regardless of their ability to pay.
Section 6043 turns current law on its head. It will deter emergency
room use by Medicaid beneficiaries and make it harder to enforce the
Federal guarantee of access to emergency care for all.
The provision also includes language that makes it harder for
patients to sue hospitals and doctors for poor treatment decisions
about whether they need emergency care. This language would tip the
burden of proof from a ``preponderance of the evidence'' to a ``clear
and convincing'' evidence standard. The ``preponderance'' standard is
the usual standard in State medical malpractice claims. It is a
standard that strikes the balance between the patient and the provider.
The ``clear and convincing'' standard tips the burden of proof toward
the patient and makes it more difficult for a patient to prove his or
her claim.
Similarly, the provision also changes the standard of liability from
the usual State standard of ``negligence'' to a heightened standard of
``gross negligence.'' It is more difficult for a patient to prove
``gross negligence'' than ``negligence.'' Thus, the language changes
the standard of liability to impose greater burdens on the injured
patient and less accountability for the providers. This actually makes
an end run around State medical malpractice liability law, lowering the
standard of liability.
Neither State medical malpractice law nor EMTALA standards were the
subject of this bill. Neither was discussed in the Senate, even though
both are of great concern to many in the Senate. This provision was
never discussed or considered at any point in the Senate debate, in
committee or on the floor. It was omitted from the Senate version.
Given this section's extremely small pricetag and its oversize policy
effect, this provision is ripe for exclusion under the Byrd rule. For
these reasons, I support Senator Conrad's point of order to strike
section 6043.
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. There is 1 minute 29 seconds.
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, some of these matters are technical
matters. But we have rules in this body for a reason. This legislation
has many violations of the rules. I have chosen a few to raise today.
Why? Because, colleagues, we could be voting all day on my points of
order against this bill. I have tried to reduce it to one vote to
accommodate colleagues. I could be here raising 12 or 15 points of
order and ask for a vote on every single one of them. I have not done
that. Yes, some of these matters are technical, but they are because we
have rules.
I would say that the question of Medicaid liability is not a
technicality. This is a question that allows hospitals to deny
treatment to low-income individuals who are unable to pay. Not only is
the majority raising copayments on low-income Medicaid beneficiaries,
but they are shielding hospitals from medical liability if they refuse
to treat those low-income people who are unable to pay. That is wrong.
Let me just say, on the foster care matter, we have a difference with
the Parliamentarian. I believe there is a violation.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator's time has expired.
Mr. CONRAD. Again, I believe the foster care question that prohibits
grandparents from receiving foster care payments is also well taken,
but we understand there is a difference.
I raise the point of order pursuant to section 313(b)(1)(A) of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 against section 5001(b)(3) and section
5001(b)(4) of the conference report because those provisions of title V
regarding Medicaid produce no budgetary changes in outlays or revenues;
and pursuant to section 313(b)(1)(D) of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974 against section 7404 regarding foster care, and the portion of
section 6043 beginning on page 92, line 19, through page 93, line 2,
which relates to the negligent standard for hospitals and physicians
who treat Medicaid patients because any changes in outlays or revenues
associated with those two provisions are merely incidental to the
nonbudgetary components of those provisions.
I hope my colleagues will vote to sustain this point of order.
Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I move to waive section 313 of the
Congressional

[[Page S14205]]

Budget Act for consideration of sections 5001(b)(3), 5001(b)(4), and
the relevant sections of 6043 of the conference report to accompany S.
1932.
I understand the Chair is going to rule that the fourth point of
order relative to foster care is not well taken.
I ask for the yeas and nays.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there a sufficient second? There
is a sufficient second.
The question is on agreeing to the motion.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 52, nays 48, as follows:

[Rollcall Vote No. 362 Leg.]

YEAS--52

Alexander
Allard
Allen
Bennett
Bond
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Burr
Chambliss
Coburn
Cochran
Coleman
Collins
Cornyn
Craig
Crapo
DeMint
DeWine
Dole
Domenici
Ensign
Enzi
Frist
Graham
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Hatch
Hutchison
Inhofe
Isakson
Kyl
Lott
Lugar
Martinez
McCain
McConnell
Murkowski
Roberts
Santorum
Sessions
Shelby
Specter
Stevens
Sununu
Talent
Thomas
Thune
Vitter
Voinovich
Warner

NAYS--48

Akaka
Baucus
Bayh
Biden
Bingaman
Boxer
Byrd
Cantwell
Carper
Chafee
Clinton
Conrad
Corzine
Dayton
Dodd
Dorgan
Durbin
Feingold
Feinstein
Harkin
Inouye
Jeffords
Johnson
Kennedy
Kerry
Kohl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Mikulski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Obama
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Salazar
Sarbanes
Schumer
Smith
Snowe
Stabenow
Wyden
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Martinez). On this vote, the yeas are 52,
the nays are 48. Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not
having voted in the affirmative, the motion is rejected.
Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. CONRAD. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, am I recorded?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recorded.
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, could we have order in the Chamber?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chamber will please be in order. Senators
will please take their conversations off the floor.
The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, it is my understanding I would now have
the right to offer a second point of order.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The unanimous consent agreement did authorize
that.
Mr. CONRAD. Has the Chair ruled on the point of order?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair is about to do so.
Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, the Chair is about to rule on the points of
order which were just offered, is that correct?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Correct. The point of order is sustained
against section 5001(b)(3), section 5001(b)(4), and that portion of
section 6043(a) proposing a new subsection (e)(4) to section 1916A of
the Social Security Act as added by section 6041 and as amended by
section 6042 of this act. The point of order is not sustained against
section 7404.
Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Chair. I now ask if it is in order that I
would offer a second point of order under the unanimous consent
agreement.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The unanimous consent agreement did so
authorize.
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, colleagues, I see no need to ask
colleagues to cast another vote. Therefore, I will withhold on the
second point of order and we could go right to passage of the
reconciliation conference report.
Mr. GREGG. I suggest that is a good approach.

ty8rd-party payors

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I rise to engage the chairman of the Finance
Committee in colloquy regarding clarification of some Medicaid
provisions relating to strengthening the government's ability to
identify and collect payment from liable third party payors.
Under current law, Medicaid is the payor of last resort. In general,
federal law requires available third parties must meet their legal
obligation to pay claims before the Medicaid program pays for the care
of an individual.
The conference report amends the list of third parties named in
section 1902(a)(25) of the Social Security Act for which States must
take all reasonable measures to ascertain the legal liability to
include, among others, pharmacy benefits managers.
Once only the back office to health plans, employers, and State
governments, pharmacy benefit managers have expanded their business
model to include serving as risk-bearing entities under the Medicare
Part D program.
I would like to clarify that the addition of pharmacy benefit
managers to the definition of liable third parties is in the instance
when they are at risk for the underlying benefit, such as operating as
a plan sponsor for purposes of providing health benefits or as a
riskbearing entity under the new Medicare Part D program as a stand-
alone PDP. This addition is not meant to make pharmacy benefit managers
liable when they are acting merely in an administrative capacity on
behalf of a liable third party.
Mr. GRASSLEY. I thank the Senator from Missouri. Yes, I want to
clarify the intent is not to create an additional liability where none
exists today. Pharmacy benefit managers mayor may not be liable third
parties. It is dependent upon whether they are ultimately responsible
for the payment of a claim. It is my understanding that the health plan
or employer contracting with the pharmacy benefit manager is ultimately
at risk for the underlying claim, so it is my belief this will not
create new liability for the pharmacy benefit manager.
Mr. BOND. I thank the Chairman.

Bona Fide Services--Clarifying the Treatment of Distributor Service
Fees under the New Medicaid Pharmacy Reimbursement Metric

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I again commend Chairman Grassley for the
leadership role he has taken in crafting much needed reductions in the
mandatory spending programs that fall under his jurisdiction as
chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Regarding the changes to the
Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement formula, we both share a strong
commitment to ensuring that the Federal dollar is spent in a wise and
proper manner while maintaining patient access to their medicines.
I do want to take this opportunity to clarify specifically how bona
fide services fees, which are negotiated between a manufacturer and
pharmaceutical distributor, should be treated under the new Medicaid
pharmacy reimbursement metric.
Manufacturers pay bona fide service fees for specific services
provided by the distributor. Service fees are a relatively new business
model to the pharmaceutical distribution industry and how they should
be treated under Federal reimbursement programs first came into
question as the new Average Sales Price, ASP, metric under the Medicare
Modernization Act was being implemented. I am pleased to note that
Congress specifically did not include service fees as a price
concession to be incorporated into the ASP calculation and CMS
subsequently confirmed that, ``Bona fide service fees that are paid by
a manufacturer to an entity, that represent fair market value for bona-
fide service provided by the entity, and are not passed on in whole or
in part to a client or customer of the entity should not be included in
the calculation of ASP.''
In light of this, I wanted to make it clear that it was not the
Chairman's intent to have manufacturers include such bona fide services
fees in the new Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement equation.
Mr. GRASSLEY. The Senator from Mississippi is correct. It was not the
intent of the conferees to suggest that by dropping bona fide services
fees from the final agreement that those service fees should be
included in the calculation of the Medicaid Average Manufacturer Price,
AMP, based reimbursement methodology as established in the pharmacy
reimbursement provisions of the conference agreement.
I thank my colleague from Mississippi for seeking this clarification.

[[Page S14206]]

continued dumping Subsidy offset act

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I rise to commend Chairman Gregg on his
leadership regarding the Deficit Reduction Act. The Budget Committee
has had to make hard decisions and has labored to do so fairly. I have
seen first-hand and appreciate the Chairman's dedication to the
integrity of this process.
On behalf of myself and Senator Burns, I would like to state for the
record our understanding of the effect of the language in the bill
regarding repeal of the Continued Dumping Subsidy Offset Act CDSOA.
We understand that the bill requires distribution of all antidumping
and countervailing duties finally determined, ultimately assessed on
any and all imports of merchandise that are entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse, for consumption by the deadline of October 1, 2007.
Further, we understand that liquidation or assessment of duties need
not occur prior to the deadline of October 1, 2007, as a condition of
distribution and that the duties ultimately assessed will be
distributed regardless of the date on which they are finally determined
and collected.
In other words, while appeals to U.S. courts or NAFTA panels or other
proceedings at administrative agencies may prevent final assessment and
collection of the duties owed until after the deadline of October 1,
2007, so long as the imports are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse,
for consumption by that date, the duties ultimately assessed will be
distributed annually under the processes currently specified in law.
Finally, we understand that subsection (b) specifies that the CDSOA
shall operate ``as if'' there had been no repeal; meaning that Customs
will maintain all existing aspects of the program codified at 19 U.S.C.
Sec. 1675c, and contained in accompanying regulations, including all
accounting procedures, all administrative and other mechanisms, and all
infrastructure in place to collect, account for, track, and distribute
duties on merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for
consumption by the deadline of October 1, 2007. And at all times we
would expect that collections of duties are to be pursued aggressively
by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Mr. FRIST. It is my understanding that my colleague is correct in his
interpretation of the language agreed to by the conferees. In essence,
the Continued Dumping Subsidy Offset Act will remain in effect for all
imports of merchandise that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse,
for consumption by the deadline of October 1, 2007. However, duties
collected on products entering on or after October 1, 2007, will be
deposited with the U.S. Treasury. Since the WTO has declared the CDSOA
as putting us out of compliance with our WTO obligations, other nations
have begun to retaliate against our exports. This will bring us into
compliance with that ruling and hopefully will bring to an end the
sanctions U.S. companies are currently facing.
Mr. CRAIG. I thank the leader for that clarification and I appreciate
all of his hard work in reaching this compromise language.
Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I rise today in support of S. 1932, the
Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, but I want to take a few minutes to
discuss a specific aspect of that bill--the reauthorization of the
welfare reform law. As many of my colleagues have heard me say, I
believe the 1996 welfare reform law is one of the great legislative
successes during my time in the U.S. Senate. Since the bi11's
enactment, welfare caseloads have been cut in half, more than 7 million
individuals and 2 million families have exchanged a welfare check for a
paycheck, and welfare reform has lifted 2.3 million children out of
poverty.
We must build upon this success to move the 2 million families that
remain on welfare into the workforce by ending the Practice of simply
extending the program and passing a legislative reauthorization of the
welfare reform law. On January 24, 2005, I introduced S.6, the MORE
Act, that included a reauthorization of TANF. A bipartisan
reauthorization bill, S. 667, passed the Senate Finance Committee with
my support on March 9, 2005. While I continue to believe that such
reauthorization would have been best suited by moving the Senate
Finance Committee reported bill, S. 667, under regular order; we
unfortunately have been unable to reach an agreement with our
colleagues on the other side of the aisle to bring this bill to the
floor.
After over 3 years of trying to move forward on this reauthorization,
our colleagues in the House have included TANF reauthorization in their
budget reconciliation bill. Going into this process, I was concerned
that some provisions in the House legislation regarding work hours,
participation rates, child support enforcement and access to child care
did not strike the appropriate balance needed to meet the needs of
these families as they strive to move from welfare to work. I was
pleased that the House had included provisions to encourage healthy
marriages, promote responsible fatherhood, and support strong families.
At the end of the day, the Deficit Reduction Act is not my preferred
vehicle, but I am glad we are making some improvements in the program
without upsetting the necessary balance.
The conference report reauthorizes the welfare program--the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families program or TANF--through fiscal year 2010
at its current funding level of $16.9 billion annually. The bill
provides an additional $1 billion for child care over 5 years for a
total of $2.917 billion annually. While I understand and have heard
from many that they want a higher amount for child care, this bill will
increase the investment in child care for working families by $1
billion, and if we don't do this bill there will be no increase in
child care at all. It is important to get this increase done this year.
I am very pleased that the conference report provides $100 million
annually for healthy marriage promotion, and $50 million annually for
the promotion of responsible fatherhood. The need for these programs is
clear. Children growing up in married, two-parent homes are less likely
to be victims of abuse, engage in high risk behaviors, and suffer from
emotional problems. Children who live absent their biological fathers
are, on average, five times more likely to be poor, and at least two to
three times more likely to use drugs, to experience educational,
health, emotional and behavioral problems, to be victims of child
abuse, and to engage in criminal behavior than their peers who live
with both parents.

However the benefits are also clear. Married families are 5 times
less likely to be in poverty than are single-parent families. Adults
benefit from marriage through lower mortality rates, better health,
greater financial well-being, less suicide, greater happiness, and
suffer less violence by intimate partners. Children with involved,
loving fathers are significantly more likely to do well in school, have
healthy self-esteem, exhibit empathy and pro-social behavior, and avoid
high-risk behaviors such as drug use, truancy, and criminal activity
compared to children who have uninvolved fathers. These grants can be
used to provide information on the value of marriage, conflict
resolution, relationship skills and financial management. Increasing
healthy two-parent marriages is a proven means to reduce poverty and
improve child well-being.
This conference report also makes modest changes in the
implementation of the TANF program. First, it updates work
participation rates. The 1996 Welfare Reform Act, P.L. 104-193,
contemplated that all states would meet a 50-percent participation rate
by 2002. Because the current caseload reduction credit is based on the
1995 caseload level, most States--including my home State of
Pennsylvania--have an actual participation rate standard of zero.
States currently achieve their credit because of their ability to count
a decade-old caseload decline. The conference report updates the credit
to the more relevant date of 2005, thereby ensuring that the intent of
the 1996 welfare reform act is realized.
The bill also closes a loophole on work participation rates. To avoid
having to meet caseload requirements, some states set up separate
programs and moved their harder-to-place clients to those programs to
avoid the work requirements. The bill removes the ability to game the
system by including these separate state programs in the work
calculation, closing a loophole.

[[Page S14207]]

I have seen a number of reports that indicate that this bill changes
work requirements, narrows what is considered work, et cetera. I want
to be clear that this bill maintains the current work requirements. The
bill does not change the current-law standard of 30 hours and maintains
the separate 20-hour standard for adults with a child six years of age
and under. It also maintains current-law activities that count as work,
including allowing 12 months for education and training. The measure
leaves it to the states to determine whether activities may be counted
as work activities, and how to count and verify reported hours of work.
I have heard a number of my colleagues say that this bill ``cuts''
money from child support enforcement. I hope they go back and read the
bill. The changes in child support actually increase child support
enforcement and gets support to the families. The conference report
includes provisions that increase States' ability to improve child
support collection. Under current law, much of the child support that
is owed to families on welfare is assigned to the State. The conference
agreement would allow $423 million owed to families on welfare and
those who have left welfare to go directly to those families--a
significant improvement over current law.
The supposed ``cut'' is a restoration of the current state-matching
requirement. Currently, States are required to match certain Federal
funds with state funds, showing a State investment in the child support
enforcement program. However, States have been taking Federal funds
from one grant and then using them as the ``Federal'' matching funds
rather than using State funds. The conference report prevents States
from ``double dipping'' by using Federal funds to draw down additional
matching federal funds for child support enforcement.
Additionally, the conference report provides $100 million for grants
to ensure that the safety, permanence and well-being needs of children
are met in a timely manner. The funds may also be used for the training
of judges, attorneys, and other legal personnel in child welfare cases.
The measure also provides an increase of $200 million for the Safe
and Stable Families program. The purpose of this program is to enable
States to develop, expand or operate coordinated programs of community-
based family support services for family preservation services, family
reunification services, and adoption promotion.
A number of organizations may have misunderstood the changes relating
to the alleged ``cuts'' in foster care. There are two provisions
relating to foster care that might have led to this misperception, so
let me speak on them for a minute.
First, the conference agreement restores long-standing foster care
eligibility criteria relating to the Rosales v. Thompson decision. That
decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals broadened eligibility
for Federal foster care benefits to include almost every child in
foster care in the nine affected States--California, Oregon,
Washington, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Alaska and Hawaii--instead
of only children removed from low-income homes that TANF is intended to
help. The conference agreement again ensures the same policy applies
nationwide. As this decision did not apply in Pennsylvania, this change
does not affect my home State.
Second, the bill limits the amount of administrative expenses when
States are slow to place children in safe and suitable situations. I
should be clear that this proposal does not reduce foster care benefits
because the funds in question do not support payments to families.
Instead, the proposal addresses how much Federal funding States may
claim to operate their foster care programs and under what
circumstances Federal funding may be claimed. Current law requires the
placement of a child in a licensed foster family home or a child care
institution as a condition of eligibility for federal foster care
maintenance payments. As part of meeting this duty, States may make
certain administrative claims on behalf of ``candidates'' for federal
foster care. ``Candidates'' are children who have not been removed from
their homes but are at imminent risk of removal.
The proposal allows the State to claim Federal administrative funds
for up to 12 months while children are ``candidates'' for Federal
foster care and the State is working to license the home as safe and
appropriate for the child. In January 2005, the Department of Health
and Human Services, HHS, issued a proposed regulation making this
change. So States have been on notice that this issue was of concern
for almost a year. Fourteen States have indicated that they would be
affected by the proposed regulation; however Pennsylvania was not one
of those States.
In summary, millions of our fellow citizens have replaced the
dependency on government handouts with the dignity and opportunity of
work. Children and families will now have opportunities to strengthen
their families through programs to support marriage and responsible
fatherhood. Thousands of children will have access to childcare through
the $1 billion in new funding. And we have strengthened our child
welfare programs. On balance, I think the reconciliation bill, as it
relates to welfare reform, is a step in the right direction. I remain
committed to ensuring that work remains a gateway to opportunity for
all Americans and urge my colleagues to support passage of S. 1932, the
Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.
Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I once again rise to reluctantly, but
adamantly, oppose the budget reconciliation bill before us today. I say
reluctantly because the Senate ought to use the reconciliation
procedure for the purposes for which it was intended: making difficult
choices to reduce spending. We have an obligation to bring our Nation's
budget back into balance so we don't saddle future generations with
endless debt and economic ruin. However, this budget fails on every
level to achieve this goal. And even worse, the budget cuts that this
bill does make fall squarely on lower-income Americans who can least
afford them.
One provision in this conference agreement that I support relates to
extension of the Milk Income Lost Contract, MILC, program. MILC, which
expired at the end of the last fiscal year, provides countercyclical
support for the Nation's dairy sector. It is targeted. It is fair. It
is essential. Moreover, it enjoys the President's support. It makes
sense as part of the balanced Agriculture package in this bill.
But even this one bright spot is not enough to save this bill or the
budget plan of which it is a part. This bill is just one piece of a
fraudulent, fiscally, and morally bankrupt budget which I cannot
endorse. While the conference agreement we are now voting on cuts
almost $40 billion in spending, waiting in the wings is a tax-cut bill
that will likely cost more than $70 billion in tax cuts for the
wealthy. The math simply doesn't add up. You can't pass a bill to cut
spending by $40 billion and follow it up with a tax bill that will cost
more than $70 billion and claim you are reducing the deficit it's
simply untrue and irresponsible.
I am willing to make the hard choices to bring our budget deficit
down, but this conference agreement does not reflect our Nation's
priorities. I cannot support taking vital services away from families
that need them the most--and use those cuts as a fig leaf to hide tax
breaks for those who need them the least.
I am particularly disappointed that the House and Senate conference
committee has come back with an agreement that is actually worse than
the original Senate-passed bill. This so-called compromise causes more
harm to low-income Americans while shielding powerful special
interests, such as pharmaceutical companies and the managed care
industry, from any sacrifice.
This conference report achieves much of its savings by requiring low-
income Medicaid beneficiaries to pay more out-of-pocket for health
care, and taking away health care services for which many beneficiaries
are currently covered. Even more egregious, negotiators dropped a
common-sense provision in the Senate-passed bill that would have saved
billions of dollars by eliminating a slush fund for private insurance
companies in the Medicare prescription drug program.
This bill before us also fails our Nation's students who are
struggling to pay for college. Student loans help to

[[Page S14208]]

ensure that every student in America can choose higher education
regardless of his or her financial or social background. These programs
are an investment in our future and an investment in a diverse,
educated population who will lead this country in the 21st century.
At a time of rising tuition costs, this conference report would
actually make college less affordable. It would establish a fixed
interest rate instead of maintaining today's lower variable rates--
leaving the typical student borrower, who has $17,500 in student loan
debt, having to pay up to an additional $5,800 in order to repay his or
her college loans. It is simply unacceptable to make the largest raid
on the student aid program in history at a time when millions of
families are struggling to keep up with skyrocketing tuition costs. And
it is inexcusable to do this in order to pay for tax breaks for the
wealthiest in our society.
I urge my colleagues to reject this bill--and the irresponsible and
cruel budget of which it is a part. It does not reflect the right
budget priorities, and it certainly does not reflect the values of
American families. And adding insult to injury, these harmful cuts will
not even help our country dig its way out of a large and growing budget
deficit. This bill will soon be combined with tax breaks for the
wealthiest Americans that exceed, by tens of billions of dollars, the
value of the cuts themselves, and leave our fiscal situation in even
worse shape than before. We should reject this reckless budget plan and
instead work to make the responsible choices that the American people
expect.

expiring tax provisions

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, the Senate is wrapping up legislative
business shortly, but there are a few expiring tax provisions that have
unfortunately not been extended yet. Chief among them is the protection
from the onerous alternative minimum tax, or AMT. Both the higher
exemption level and the protection for personal nonrefundable credits
expire on December 31, and because of this, 17 million taxpayers face a
tax increase next year if we fail to act. Further, a great number of
U.S. businesses rely on important tax credits, such as the research and
development tax credit and the work opportunity tax credit, both of
which expire at the end of the year. This is not the first time this
unfortunate situation has occurred, but it is my hope and intention
that as soon as the Senate reconvenes next year, that we would take up
these items and ensure that they are extended without any intervening
lapse. Is that also the intention of my good friend from Iowa, Chairman
Grassley?
Mr. GRASSLEY. I thank you, Senator Baucus for raising the issue.
Providing relief from the alternative minimum tax for millions of
American families is critically important. The alternative minimum tax
is badly in need of reform and I know he is anxious to work with me on
that important task. Until such time, we must provide annual relief to
prevent further expansion of that tax's reach. I was proud that we were
able to accomplish that objective as part of the tax reconciliation
bill that passed the Finance Committee and the Senate at the end of
November. I remain committed to seeing that AMT relief enacted into
law. In addition, we should act quickly on other expiring tax
provisions to provide simplification and certainty for individuals and
businesses, alike.
Mr. BAUCUS. I thank the Chairman for his statement. I look forward to
working with him to pass legislation as quickly as possible to provide
a seamless extension of these provisions. This will ensure the fewest
disruptions for taxpayers and administrative problems for the IRS.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise today to express my support for the
budget reconciliation bill conference report. As I have stated here
during the different stages of debate on this year's budget, the most
notable thing about this reconciliation bill is not the size of the
reduction of the spending growth but rather the fact that it
effectively takes the foot off the accelerator of spending growth and
begins to touch on the brakes.
But to get us there, the conferees had to make some hard choices. I
will be frank--I would prefer that we pass a bill similar to the one
the Senate passed in November. That bill met our budgetary goals, and
it struck the right balance. The conference report changes some social
programs, and I understand the concerns many throughout Utah have
expressed about how these changes will impact care.
That is why I spoke with Health and Human Services Secretary Michael
Leavitt last night to discuss how this bill might affect social
services in Utah. His assurances that the budget bill will not hurt our
more vulnerable citizens were key to my decision to support S. 1932.
Secretary Leavitt, who spent more than a decade serving as Utah's
Governor, also committed to maintaining a watchful eye over
implementation of this law to make sure that all Utahns' interests are
protected.
So despite this, my paramount concern was that we act now to curb the
growth in entitlement spending because it threatens every one of our
children and grandchildren with an unbearable tax burden. This
conference report marks the beginning of a much needed change--a change
that must occur if we are to gain control of the fiscal future of this
country. As many of my colleagues have pointed out, this conference
report, if enacted, will represent the first time since 1997 that we
have been able to reduce spending growth in entitlement programs.
The conference report before us includes a reduction in Federal
outlays totaling almost $40 billion over the next 5 fiscal years. This,
I am pleased to see, is nearly $5 billion more than the Senate version
of the bill that we passed last month. While I am certainly not happy
with all of the individual changes in the conference report, I do like
its direction toward more savings growth.
One reason I am so anxious to turn the comer in slowing spending
growth on these entitlement programs is that the long-term projections
for Federal spending on the three largest entitlement programs--Social
Security, Medicare, and Medicaid--are truly alarming. In fact, a new
report released last month by the Heritage Foundation states that fully
funding these three programs will force Federal spending, as a share of
GDP, to increase from today's level of 20 percent to almost 33 percent
by 2050.
Moreover, according to the report, the cost of these three programs
alone could jump from 8.4 percent of GDP today to 18.9 percent of GDP
by 2050. Failing to curb the growth in these programs leaves us with
three very unattractive and dangerous alternatives. The first would be
to raise taxes dramatically. As we know, such a move would choke off
economic growth and leave us vulnerable to economic recessions which
would exacerbate rather than help the problem.
The second alternative is equally untenable--eliminate all other
spending, eventually to include all discretionary spending. This, of
course, is absurd since our defense, homeland security, and other vital
spending is included in this category. The final alternative is to
continue to allow the deficits to continue to build up as we try to
keep on financing the growing debt with loans from other countries.
Therefore, our only real choice is to begin to slow down the growth
in these programs. This conference reports does start us on this path.
However, I acknowledge this conference report is far from perfect. It
retains some flaws from the Senate version of the bill, and it came
back from conference with some new flaws.
That being said, I believe this legislation is a step in the right
direction. The Medicare provisions are more in line with the Senate
version, and overall it targets Medicare's resources to better serve
our seniors and disabled. The conference report ensures that
beneficiaries don't lose their doctors because of budget cuts, and it
expands services while making significant budget savings in noncritical
areas.
While I do not agree with everything in this bill, I am pleased that
the legislation restores the stabilization fund for the Medicare
Advantage regional PPOs and allows the Medicare Part B penalty to be
waived for international missionaries. It also will expand the Program
of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly, PACE, to beneficiaries living in
rural areas. PACE offers alternative services to individuals who may
need nursing home care but want to live at

[[Page S14209]]

home if possible. This provision will provide another important choice
for long-term care services for beneficiaries in rural areas. I filed
all three of these policies as amendments when the Finance Committee
considered the budget reconciliation bill.
For Medicare beneficiaries this legislation encourages preventive
care for seniors and the disabled. Some of the important provisions in
this area include the following: preventive screening tests for
abdominal aortic aneurysm; exemption for colorectal cancer screening
tests from the Medicare deductible; a 1.6-percent update to the
composite rate for end stage renal disease, ESRD, services in 2006; and
an expansion of Medicare reimbursement for services at federally
qualified health centers, FQHC, by allowing them to provide diabetes
self-management training services and medical nutrition therapy
services.
In addition, this legislation makes needed reforms to home health
payments in order to reduce disparities in provider payment and improve
quality and transparency. First, the bill calls for a 1-year, 5-percent
add-on payment for home health agencies that serve rural beneficiaries
which will help many home health agencies in Utah. Rural home health
agencies have much lower Medicare margins than urban home health
agencies, and as a Senator who represents a primarily rural State, I
believe that this needs to be addressed. The legislation freezes home
health payments in 2006. In its March 2005 report to Congress, the
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission recommended this freeze in home
health payments because Medicare pays home health agencies
approximately 17 percent more than it costs agencies to provide home
health services. Finally, the legislation also provides financial
incentives to home health agencies that report quality data beginning
in 2007.
One of the most important provisions in this legislation protects
physicians from a 4.4-percent scheduled reduction beginning on January
1, 2006 and, instead, allowed the 2005 payment rates to continue
through 2006. I am still committed to fixing this problem once and for
all, and I hope that we may accomplish this in 2006 since this issue
will need to be addressed once again since physicians are estimated to
continue to receive negative cuts of approximately 5 percent from 2006
to 2011. Congress needs to enact a long-term solution as quickly as
possible.

With regard to therapy services, for years Congress has worked to
find a permanent solution to the problem of overutilization of therapy
services. Although I have consistently supported a moratorium on
therapy caps, this bill leaves a January 2006 expiration of the
moratorium in tact, and I am committed to continue encouraging my
colleagues to reinstate this important moratorium.
Now, let me turn to Medicaid. This has been a tremendously successful
program but also a very costly one. We have a responsibility to address
the dramatic growth in spending, but I was not happy that some of the
key provisions have not been considered thoroughly by the Senate. Given
expressions of concern voiced to me by my constituents, I only
reluctantly give my support to the overall measure.
I would have preferred the Senate language, which did not change the
law with respect to beneficiary eligibility. That is why I will be
working closely with Secretary Leavitt and other Cabinet-level
officials to ensure Utah is treated fairly as this law is implemented.
I would like to take a couple of minutes to share my thoughts on some
aspects of the Medicaid portion of this bill. One issue that was
debated in both the House and the Senate was the real asset transfer
rules. Under current law, Medicaid asset transfer rules are easily
skirted--courses are offered to teach attorneys how to circumvent the
law. This is plain wrong. The reforms in the Deficit Reduction Omnibus
Reconciliation Act will make it more difficult for these transfers to
occur and will allow more Medicaid resources to go to those who are in
genuine need.
Our current asset transfer policy is flawed. The policy not only
allows for exploitation, it encourages it. The current statute has
loopholes that allow wealthy seniors to qualify for Medicaid. Let me
make one point clear--Medicaid exists to protect the most vulnerable,
not the most wealthy.
We need a fair, equitable policy. We need to protect the Medicaid
Program for those who need it most. The legislation before us today
addresses this situation by closing the loopholes in Medicaid. First,
it prevents seniors from intentionally protecting their assets--people
should not be allowed to hide their money in order to receive Medicaid
nursing home coverage. Second, the bill changes the lookback period as
well as the penalty period. Today, an older American can shelter half
of his or her assets the day before applying for Medicaid.
The conference report starts the penalty period clock when a senior
applies for Medicaid, and the lookback period is changed from 3 years
to 5 years. Currently, an older person will face a penalty if assets
are transferred for the purposes of qualifying for Medicaid within 5
years of applying for Medicaid. This provision significantly
strengthens the asset transfer policy.
The new law does not allow an individual with more than $500,000 in
home equity to be able to qualify for Medicaid. It does provide State
flexibility to increase the cap to $750,000. This is sound policy.
Those with home equity over $500,000 should not take Medicaid money
from those for whom the Medicaid Program was designed: low-income
children, pregnant women, and individuals with disabilities. Also, the
policy only applies to individuals. It does not apply to applicants who
have a spouse or a dependent child at home. In theory, the State is
supposed to be able to put a lien on that home anyway.
Finally, seniors who have a hardship can apply for a waiver. The
policy strengthens protections for seniors seeking an undue hardship
waiver beyond current law or the Senate-passed version. I don't want to
make it harder for people who really need the Government's help. But I
do want to prevent seniors from intentionally taking advantage of the
system. We need to protect Medicaid for those who need it most.
I discussed this matter in great detail with the Utah Medicaid
Director and was assured that, in my home State of Utah, individuals
who are under suspicion for transferring assets inappropriately are
always given the right to appeal if their request for Medicaid coverage
is in question. I understand there are several States, such as Utah,
who handle this matter in fair and thoughtful way.
The budget reconciliation conference agreement also makes existing
Federal reimbursement rates for drugs more accurate. It makes the
average manufacturer price, AMP, of drugs available to the public so
that pharmacists and wholesalers will get lower prices through greater
competition, and excludes prompt pay discounts paid to wholesalers from
the new pharmacy reimbursement rates.
AMP is the average price at which manufacturers sell their drugs to
wholesalers, but starting in 2007, the Federal Government will not pay
more than 250 percent of the AMP of the lowest cost version of a
generic drug. Under current law, the Federal upper limit is 150 percent
of the lowest published price. The new payment rates are based on the
existing rules governing generic drugs.
The AMP data will also be made available to States and the public.
This will create more transparency and competition in drug pricing. CBO
has estimated that transparency will help reduce drug costs by hundreds
of millions of dollars. Competition and transparency will bring prices
down for consumers and protect the taxpayer from needless waste.
The final bill also requires the Secretary to work with private
companies that routinely monitor and track drug payment rates for
private health plans. The Secretary will then be required to share this
information, known as retail sales prices, with States. This will
provide State officials with better information about actual market-
based prices, such as the rates paid by the Federal Employee Health
Benefit Plans pay for prescription drugs. All of this information will
provide greater accountability and ensure that Medicaid is paying
pharmacists fairly for all drugs, and I am pleased that these
provisions were included in the legislation.

[[Page S14210]]

The Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act also contains
important reforms that will provide Medicare beneficiaries, seniors,
and the disabled with better options to manage their care. Under the
Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act, States will now be able
to provide home and community-based services as an optional benefit to
seniors, the disabled, persons with a developmental disability, mental
retardation, or a related condition. Coverage of these services will
allow more individuals to receive better health care and other
assistance. These services will also mean that more persons can remain
in their homes, without needing to go into nursing homes. These reforms
will help reduce spending by allowing individuals to receive the kinds
of care they want, in the settings they prefer, at prices far below
what Medicaid usually pays for nursing home care. In addition, no one
who currently is receiving care through an institution will be forced
to leave that institution in order to receive community-based care.
The final conference report also will allow every State to establish
a Long-Term Care Partnership Program. Long Term Care Partnership
Programs allow individuals to protect a portion of their assets from
Medicaid recoveries if they purchase long-term care insurance.
Currently only four States (California, Connecticut, Indiana and New
York) are allowed to have these programs. By expanding access to these
programs, the new law will help create incentives for people to
purchase long term-care insurance. Encouraging the purchase of long-
term care insurance will mean that more people will be able to pay for
their own nursing care, and fewer will have to rely on Medicaid as a
safety net to meet their long-term care needs.

Another area that is addressed in this legislation is Medicaid
beneficiary cost-sharing. There is a lot of misinformation about this
provision, and I would like to explain this provision in more detail.
Under current law, States may require cost-sharing but it is not
enforceable. In other words, if a beneficiary does not pay his or her
copayment, the health care provider is forced to absorb the
beneficiary's copayment. This is why we have such difficulty
encouraging providers to participate in the Medicaid Program. Many will
not, and all Medicaid beneficiaries suffer as a result.
I believe that the conference report includes reasonable policy that
allows States to ask beneficiaries over the poverty line to participate
in the cost of their own care. Let me make one clarification--the
House-passed legislation required States to impose cost-share
requirements on beneficiaries with no income. I do not agree with that
policy, and it is included in this bill.
A beneficiary who is above the poverty line may pay up to percent of
his or her monthly income to the cost of their care, but that is only
if the State decides to impose additional cost-sharing requirements.
And let me assure my colleagues that no state is required to impose
cost-sharing requirements on these beneficiaries. I will add that even
the National Governors Association support reasonable responsible cost-
sharing. In fact, Governors testified before the Senate Finance
Committee earlier this year and told committee members that they
support this policy.
I am aware that substantial concerns have been raised about the
provision permitting States to provide Medicaid coverage to children
under age 19 through ``benchmark'' or ``benchmark equivalent''
coverage. In short, some fear this language might abrogate the right of
those children to receive Early Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and
Testing, EPSDT, benefits.
For the benefit of my colleagues, I will ask unanimous consent that a
statement just issued by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Administration, Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D., be printed in the Record
As Dr. McClellan has made quite clear, children through age 18 will
continue to receive EPSDT. It is my hope this assurance will make many
child advocates more comfortable with this bill.
With regard to the welfare portion of the conference report, I was
disappointed to see Congress's efforts to reduce the budget contain
limitations on welfare, childcare, and child support policy. These
vital programs should have been reauthorized through the normal
legislative process, not tucked away in a protected budget
reconciliation bill which is designed to reduce the Federal deficit.
The welfare, childcare, and child support language included in the
budget reconciliation bill has almost nothing to do with reducing the
deficit and everything to do with changing the rules of these important
programs without proper legislative scrutiny or debate.
While I am completely frustrated with the Senate's inability to
reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF,
legislation using the normal legislative process, I do not believe it
is in the best interest of the participants of these programs to
include sweeping policy changes in a bill designed to reduce the
deficit.
However, I am appreciative of Chairman Grassley's efforts to ensure
that childcare funding was increased. Although the increase is limited
to $1 billion over the next 5 years, I am hopeful we will be able to
secure even larger increases in childcare funding in the near future.
Providing quality childcare to low-income families is crucial when we
are scrambling to help families become self-sufficient, and I am
committed to ensuring the Federal Government continues to help these
children and families.
As well, I am appreciative of the chairman's efforts to secure 3
years of supplement TANF grants. The State of Utah has been a large
beneficiary of these grants, and as we work to meet the stricter TANF
work requirements outlined in this bill, we will continue to have
supplemental grants from HHS to help us train and prepare our TANF
recipients.
Now I would like to discuss the portion of the deficit reduction
conference report that addresses the Continued Dumping and Subsidy
Offset Act, which is commonly refereed to as the Byrd amendment. The
Byrd amendment amended the Tariff Act of 1930 to require that duties,
collected as a result of antidumping and countervailing duty laws, be
distributed to the affected entities. At the time it was introduced, I
supported this measure as a commonsense proposal.
However, since that time, the World Trade Organization has allowed
our trading partners to impose tariffs on various U.S. goods, and the
Byrd amendment has gone from a commonsense solution to an impediment to
U.S. companies' ability to sell their goods abroad.
First, I must reemphasize my strong support for laws that not only
make trade free but fair. Accordingly, I have spoken directly to the
Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez, and United States Trade
Representative, Ambassador Rob Portman, about the vital importance of
vigorous enforcement of our trade laws.
Though I have never and will never advocate modifying our laws
because of outside pressure, American companies and employees in Utah
and all over the country have come to me and asked for my help in
repealing the Byrd amendment. Currently, the United States is
negotiating, as part of the Doha Round talks, a new trade regime in
which international markets would become even more open to U.S. goods
and services. If completely successful, the Institute for International
Economics estimates that American households could gain as much as an
additional $5,000 per year. If today's international trade barriers
were reduced by just a third, the average American family of four would
enjoy $2,500 per year in additional income, according to a University
of Michigan study.
Freer trade helps more than just Americans. The poorest countries
stand to gain considerably. According to a Center for Global
Development study, a successful conclusion to the Doha Round would
result in an additional $200 billion flowing to developing nations,
reducing poverty and economic hardship. Not to mention, the Institute
for International Economics estimates that trade liberalization over
the last 50 years has brought an additional $10,000 per year to the
typical American household.

In order to achieve our objectives in the Doha Round, many of our
trading partners will be required to make substantial concessions on
import duties and subsidies. However, those who oppose our noble goals
could use our refusal to repeal the Byrd amendment as

[[Page S14211]]

a means to hinder our negotiating strategy. Simply put, these opponents
will state that if the United States cannot follow the existing rules
of trade, rules which our Nation largely crafted and implemented, how
can we be trusted if most trade barriers are repealed?
Therefore, as I said before, I admire the Byrd amendment's
commonsense approach, but I believe under the present circumstances the
time has come for this legislation to be modified, in order to
strengthen the ability of our Nation to achieve the larger goal of
bringing down foreign barriers to U.S. goods and services.
Therefore, I support the changes incorporated in the Deficit
Reduction Conference Report. This legislation achieves a fair
compromise by repealing the Byrd amendment; however, at the same it
would permit Byrd amendment payments to U.S. companies through October
1, 2007. This should provide an adequate time for companies to plan for
the future while preserving a strong negotiating position for U.S.
interests.
Despite its shortcomings in some areas, this reconciliation package
contains several very important provisions in the intellectual property
area that benefit the Nation and my home State of Utah.
I am pleased that a hard date for the transition from analog to
digital television was included in the final package. This important
provision will free up crucial radio spectrum that is currently
occupied by broadcaster's analog television signals. Although the
digital transition inevitably resolves a number of difficult issues, it
also has several important benefits. It is my understanding that over
$7 billion of the proceeds from the eventual auction of spectrum
licenses is expected to be used for deficit reduction. Perhaps more
importantly, the transition will provide both the necessary funding and
available spectrum for public safety officials and emergency personnel
across the country to upgrade their communications infrastructure. And,
finally, a portion of the anticipated proceeds will be used for various
programs intended to minimize any negative financial impact on
consumers, rural broadcasters, and others affected by the transition.
I am particularly pleased that a provision setting aside a small
fraction of the proceeds to help fund the upgrade of television
translator stations was included. This provision responds to a serious
concern that I have had regarding the financial viability of upgrading
the network of translator stations across Utah that are used to serve
many of the rural communities in my home State. In the context of the
debate over the digital transition, it came to my attention that
upgrading these translators, which retransmit television signals to
communities beyond the reach of the primary broadcast towers, would
impose a substantial--and disproportionate--financial burden on
broadcasters that were primarily located in mountainous western States.
Due to the vast area covered by the Salt Lake City television market
and the high concentration of translator stations in the State, there
was a substantial concern that upgrading the cost of these translators
would be prohibitive. The approach taken in the reconciliation package
is similar to the proposal contained in S. 1600, which I cosponsored
with Senator Snowe, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank
Senators Snowe, Stevens, and Inouye--and their respective staffs--for
their help on this issue.
As with other portions of this bill, there are aspects to the
education provisions I support and others I don't. However, I am
pleased overall with the significant amount of savings while still
allowing for spending on important programs.
The major area of savings comes from the reduction in corporate
lender profits on student loans, in the form of a requirement that
lenders rebate the Federal Government the difference between the
borrower rate and the lender rate when the borrower rate exceeds the
lender rate. In addition, guaranty agencies are required to deposit 1
percent of their collections in the Federal Reserve Fund; there is a
reduction of borrower origination fees by .50 percent for each award,
and there is an elimination of the recycling of 9.5 percent loans.
Even with these much needed savings, I disagreed with fixing the
interest rate for undergraduate and graduate nonconsolidation borrowing
at 6.8 percent, preferring a choice of a fixed or variable rate.
However, I am very pleased with increasing grant aid for students
studying math and science, named SMART grants. I was involved in the
original creation of the SMART Grants Program through my work on the
HELP Committee. These grants will give first year students awards of
$700 and $1,300 for second year students, provided they have completed
rigorous programs at the secondary level. Third and fourth year
students may receive up to $4,000 in grant aid if they major in math,
science, or foreign language.
I know these programs will give Utah students, particularly those of
low or moderate means, greater access to a college education and will
boost our local and national economy as we seek to meet the demands of
the 21st century workforce.
Again, this legislation is not perfect. It is not a perfect answer to
several of the social policy problems that confront our Nation. It is
not a perfect answer to the growing Federal budget deficit either. It
is not Draconian and it is not mean-hearted. This deficit reduction
conference report is merely a good first step in stemming the tide of
red ink that runs down the pages of the Federal budget, stealing
taxpayer dollars to service a monstrous Federal debt and robbing our
children of a safe and secure financial future. For these important and
self evident reasons, I support this bill.
I ask unanimous consent the statement issued by the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services Administration to which I referred
earlier be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:

Statement by Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D, Administrator, Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services

Questions have been raised about the new section 1937 of
the Social Security Act (SSA) (as added by the Deficit
Reduction Act of 2005) that permits states to provide
Medicaid benefits to children through benchmark coverage or
benchmark equivalent coverage. If a state chooses to exercise
this option, the specific issue has been raised as to whether
children under 19 will still be entitled to receive EPSDT
benefits in addition to the benefits provided by the
benchmark coverage or benchmark equivalent coverage. The
short answer is: children under 19 will receive EPSDT
benefits.
After a careful review, including consultation with the
Office of General Counsel, CMS has determined that children
under 19 will still be entitled to receive EPSDT benefits if
enrolled in benchmark coverage or benchmark equivalent
coverage under the new section 1937. CMS will review each
State plan amendment (SPA) submitted under the new section
1937 and will not approve any SPA that does not include the
provision of EPSDT services for children under 19 as defined
in section 1905(r) of the SSA.
In the case of children under the age of 19, new section
1937(a)(1) is clear that a state may exercise the option to
provide Medicaid benefits through enrollment in coverage that
at a minimum has two parts. The first part of the coverage
will be benchmark coverage or benchmark equivalent coverage,
as required by subsection (a)(1)(A)(i), and the second part
of the coverage will be wrap-around coverage of EPDST
services as defined in section 1905(r) of the SSA, as
required by subsection (a)(1)(A)(ii). A State cannot exercise
the option under section 1937 with respect to children under
19 if EPSDT services are not included in the total coverage
provided to such children.
Subparagraph (C) of section 1937(a)(1) permits states to
also add wrap-around or additional benefits. In the case of
children under 19, wrap-around or additional benefits that a
state could choose to provide under subparagraph (C) must be
a benefit in addition to the benchmark coverage or benchmark
equivalent coverage and the EPSDT services that the state is
already required to provide under subparagraph (A) of that
section. Subparagraph (C) does not in any way give a state
the flexibility to fail to provide the EPSDT services
required by subparagraph (A)(ii) of section 1937(a)(1).

Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, across the country, more than 6 million
children live with relatives, and of those, 4.5 million live with
grandparents. A majority of relatives providing care for children are
not part of the child welfare system. In fact, only a quarter of all
relatives caring for a child receive either a foster care payment or
another source of payment. Most relatives do not receive any Federal
financial support, and sadly, nearly 20 percent of all grandparents
raising their grandchildren live in poverty.

[[Page S14212]]

Unfortunately, the conference agreement on the Deficit Reduction Act
of 2005 severely cuts Federal assistance to foster care funding and
makes it significantly harder for relatives to provide care for a
child. I believe this is a step in the wrong direction, and I oppose
these cuts.
Kinship care is an important option for permanency for children in
the child welfare system and often appropriate when adoption is not
possible. Subsidized guardianship makes it possible for a relative to
step in and care for a child. In my State of New Mexico, subsidized
guardianship is available, and nearly 10 percent of children live with
nonparent relatives. Grandparents and other relative caregivers are
often the best chance for a loving and stable childhood for a child in
their care, and it is important that we acknowledge their hard work and
dedication.
I commend grandparents and other relatives who step forward to care
for a child. Their efforts help keep children out of foster care and
provide safe, permanent and stable homes, often at great personal
sacrifice. Supportive programs like subsidized guardianship allow
caring relatives to provide care that they may not otherwise be able to
give, and help children exit foster care into the care of nurturing
relatives. I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation for
the invaluable care provided by relatives for children in need.
Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I join many of my colleagues today in
expressing sincere disappointment in the conference report to the
budget reconciliation legislation. I could certainly echo the
sentiments that we have already heard regarding the Medicaid and TANF
provisions included in this conference report--two sections that will
directly penalize hard working families, and prevent many from moving
towards self-sufficiency. Or I could repeat the comments that this
report represents not a compromise between the House and Senate bills,
but an abuse of power that will harm rather than help, millions of
families.
While I share my colleagues' dissatisfaction with this conference
report, I would like to highlight a section that may have been
overlooked. The conferees made interesting decisions in the area of
child support--they chose to include provisions that would allow States
to ``pass through'' child support payments to families, provisions that
I have fought to pass for several years. Yet in the same conference
report, they chose to make deep cuts to the Child Support Enforcement
Program, cuts that may inhibit States ability from actually passing
through those child support dollars.
I believe the inclusion of the child support ``pass through''
provisions is one of the few successes of this legislation. These
provisions are similar to those included in S. 321, the Child Support
Distribution Act. Senator Snowe and I have worked together for the past
several years on this legislation, which allows States to ``pass
through'' more child support collections to the families that need
them, rather than send those dollars to the Federal Government.
Specifically, the conference report has three major provisions
related to the Child Support Distribution Act. The conference report
eliminates pre-assistance assignment rules--families applying for the
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program would no longer be
required to turn over their right to child support that accrues before
they are receiving assistance. In addition, the Conference Report gives
states the option to distribute more child support to families who have
left assistance. Finally, for families currently receiving assistance,
it allows States to let families keep more child support, rather than
sending it to the Federal Government.
These changes were included in the bipartisan, Senate Finance
Committee-passed welfare reauthorization legislation. It is
unfortunate, given the wide support for these provisions, that the cuts
contained in this bill will place such a financial burden on the States
that they will unlikely be able to actually pass through the funding to
the families.
The original House bill included a 40-percent cut to Federal child
support funding. Thus, it would seem that the $5 billion cut included
in the conference report before us is somehow less significant. This
could not be further from the truth. According to the Congressional
Budget Office, this conference report would mean that more than $8
billion in child support payments would go uncollected over the next 10
years. I will say that again so that my colleagues are clear: $8
billion in funds will not go to hardworking, single parent families; $8
billion that is owed to these families, that they rely on to meet their
children's needs.
These payments would go uncollected because the conference report
retains a provision that 74 of my colleagues voted against last week. I
offered a motion to instruct that asked conferees to reject the
provisions in the House bill that would restrict the ability of States
to draw down matching funds on child support incentive payments. In
addition, I sent a letter to conferees that was signed by 49 Senators
asking that this restriction not be included in the conference report.
I have heard some of my colleagues argue that this is simply closing
a loophole, that this funding source was not what Congress intended. I
say to my colleagues that this is not the case. The reforms made to the
child support system in 1998 created the performance-based system that
has been proven to be so successful. Since this system was put in
place, States have doubled their collection rates and have
significantly improved their performance on every other measure.
The changes in this conference report would undo these successes. In
fact, the cuts will actually drive up costs in other programs, such as
TANF, food stamps, and Medicaid. That is why these cuts are opposed by
the National Governors Association, the National Association of
Attorneys General, and the National Conference of State Legislatures,
among others.
It is highly ironic that the conference report gives States the
option to pass through more child support to families that deserve it,
while also passing on a financial burden that will directly restrict
their ability to do so. This bill will hurt millions of families, and
it should have been defeated.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, we all know that times have been getting
tougher for low- and middle-income working families. Compared to 5
years ago, more Americans now live in poverty, the median household
income has dropped, and more live without the security of health
insurance. Clearly, Congress should be adopting budget policies aimed
at improving these troubling trends. But instead, this misguided budget
reconciliation conference report would make things worse.
This legislation takes funds from important programs like Medicaid,
student loans, child support enforcement, foster care assistance, and
Supplemental Security Income for the elderly and disabled poor. The
stated purpose of these nearly $40 billion in cuts and harmful program
changes is to trim the deficit, but we all know that these savings will
not ultimately be used toward that goal; they are designed to pave the
way for the $50 billion to $100 billion in new tax cuts that the
majority will attempt to push through early next year. We should not be
making cuts to vital services simply so the President and the majority
can finance more tax cuts that mainly benefit the wealthiest among us.
Under this bill, families that rely on Medicaid will face significant
increases in the costs for access to health care services and
medications, which will lead many of our most vulnerable citizens to
forgo needed care. The Congressional Budget Office, CBO, estimates that
the increases in Medicaid copayments and premiums and the reductions in
Medicaid benefits will total $16 billion over the next 10 years. Also
of particular concern to Michigan is a provision that eliminates the
State's provider managed care assessment. When that provision goes into
effect, it will cost Michigan $280 million per year.
The conference agreement also makes things worse for those who use
student loans. Despite already soaring education costs, this conference
report cuts funding for student loan programs by $12.7 billion over 5
years, nearly one-third of the total cuts imposed by this legislation.
Most of these reductions are achieved by increasing interest rates and
fees paid by students and parents. In the fight for global
competitiveness, a highly educated workforce is one of America's best
assets. It

[[Page S14213]]

is shortsighted to cut investments in education.
This legislation will make also substantial changes to the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families, TANF, program. The changes include
imposing harsh new work requirements without providing nearly enough
childcare assistance. The CBO estimates that States will need over $12
billion in new funding over the next 5 years to maintain current
childcare programs and meet the new work requirements by increasing
participation in welfare-to-work programs. The conference agreement,
however, includes just $1 billion in childcare funding over the next 5
years. The shortfall means that many States will need to scale back
childcare slots for poor working families not on welfare, forcing
families to choose between lower quality, less stable childcare or not
working at all.
Unfortunately, this conference agreement also contains a House
provision that would repeal the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset
Act, CDSOA, of 2000, despite an overwhelming 71 to 20 Senate vote
instructing conferees to reject the provision. The CDSOA was enacted in
2000 to enable U.S. businesses and workers to survive in the face of
continued unfair trade by allowing Customs to distribute duties
collected on unfairly traded imports to those U.S. companies and
workers injured by continued dumped and unfairly subsidized imports. I
do not believe we should repeal this law, nor do a bipartisan majority
of Senators.
Additionally, under this bill, Federal funding for child support
enforcement will be cut about $1.5 billion over the next 5 years. As a
result, the CBO estimates that $2.9 billion in child support owed to
children will go uncollected over 5 years.
The hardships that will be caused by this legislation are significant
and broad-reaching. Yet the three-part budget reconciliation package
that includes this conference report will not even make a dent in our
deficits. Both the House and Senate have passed tax reconciliation
bills that cut revenues far more than this bill cuts spending. As most
grade school math students can tell you, when you bring in less money
than you spend, you will end up in trouble. And that is where the
President's tax policies have put us today.
We have got over $8 trillion in debt. Financing further tax cuts with
debt is simply fiscally irresponsible. In the most recent fiscal year,
we spent over $350 billion just to pay the interest on our debt. That
is 14 percent of the Federal Government's spending last year. We simply
cannot afford to continue building up this massive debt.
One of a few positive aspects about this conference report is the
inclusion of an extension of the Milk Income Loss Compensation, MILC,
Program, which was set to expire this year. Milk is Michigan's largest
agricultural commodity, and the MILC Program has been essential in
preserving our dairy farms in times of dairy price declines.
Mr. President, the reconciliation process is supposed to bring
Government programs and tax policies passed over the years in line with
the broader budgetary goals of the Congress. It should be a fiscal
sanity check, making sure our policies support our goals. At a time
when one in six American children lives in poverty, our budget goals
should be to help, not hurt, the neediest among us. Our goals should
also focus on reducing the mountain of debt that we are leaving for our
children and grandchildren. Unfortunately, by cutting vital programs to
finance tax cuts that mainly benefit the wealthy, this legislation
moves us in the wrong direction on both counts. I will oppose this
conference report.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, today the Senate approved the Deficit
Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005. I voted in favor of this
bill because it is the first comprehensive deficit reduction
legislation approved by the Senate since 1997, and it will save $39.7
billion over the next 5 years. This is an important first step toward
containing the unsustainable growth of entitlement programs and putting
us on the road to a balanced budget.
None of us is happy about everything that is included in a big bill
like this. One area in which I am disappointed is language
reauthorizing the welfare reform program, also known as Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families, TANF. This is a program that needs to be
reauthorized on a more permanent basis, instead of the temporary
extensions that have been approved year after year.
In thinking about reauthorization of welfare reform, I believe three
things need to happen. First, States need more authority to decide what
will work best in their State. Second, States need more flexibility to
allow educational activities to count toward work hours. I have been
told by TANF offices in Tennessee that if they can get TANF recipients
into school, they do not see them on the welfare rolls again. Third, we
need more money for child care. If the TANF program is going to require
poor parents--including single mothers--to work, these parents must
have safe child care for their children. Last year, I supported--and
the Senate passed by a vote of 78 to 20--an amendment to increase child
care funding by $6 billion. This bill only includes a $1 billion
increase for child care.
Unfortunately, the welfare reform language included in the deficit
reduction bill falls short in all three of these areas. I would have
preferred that the Senate hold a full debate on TANF reauthorization,
with Senators able to offer amendments. However, I understand that the
Senate conferees felt that the deficit reduction bill represented the
best chance of reauthorization after years of delay and temporary
extensions.
In the coming year, I look forward to working with Chairman Grassley
and other colleagues to craft legislation that addresses some of these
shortcomings and continues the successful transformation of the TANF
program that began with enactment of the landmark welfare reform law in
1996.
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, this budget reconciliation package that
arrived from the House-Senate conference will leave our country's
budget and the American people in a far worse state of affairs than
they are today. I am disappointed that congressional leaders have
chosen to use the budget reconciliation process to achieve
controversial goals that will make life harder for those Americans in
greatest need of help, and I will oppose this legislation.
As I stated when this bill passed the Senate, using reconciliation to
push through legislation that will worsen our budget deficit and add
billions more to the mountain of debt our children and grandchildren
will have to pay is a perversion of a process designed to expedite
measures to reduce the deficit.
Reconciliation was intended to help facilitate the enactment of
measures to reduce the deficit and therefore secure the Nation's
financial stability. It is ironic that it should be used to enact
measures that not only aggravate our budget deficits and increase our
massive debt, but also makes cuts to programs that help many Americans
maintain their financial security.
There are substantial and unprecedented changes to the Medicaid
program included in this bill. Rather than cut the wasteful, $10
billion Medicare Advantage slush fund that gives superfluous payments
to insurance companies, conferees have chosen to cut benefits and shift
costs onto the poorest in America. Usage of Medicaid is expected to
drop significantly, forcing beneficiaries to become sicker and
eventually utilize emergency room care. In fact, the Congressional
Budget Office estimates that 17 million people will pay more for health
services under Medicaid over 10 years, half of whom would be children.
Is this how we want to take care of the needy in our society? This will
be harmful not only to those in need of health care, but also to our
hospitals, which will be burdened with more patients who are unable to
pay. This shift of health care costs from the Government to Medicaid
beneficiaries will only cost our hospitals and taxpayers more money in
the long run--and this is being done under the guise of saving money
and balancing our budget.
Perhaps the most worrying changes to our health care programs are the
statutory changes to Medicaid and Medicare. This conference agreement
institutes systemic limitations on services that will have effects for
decades to come. Included in the bill are provisions that will force
unlimited charges onto the poor for their health care where previously
there were protections for those in near poverty. As if

[[Page S14214]]

loss of these protections were not enough, this will also allow health
care providers to deny health care to people too poor to afford these
charges.
This legislation also freezes Medicare payments to home health care
providers. Home health is the most cost-efficient and comfortable way
to provide long term care. By freezing home health care payments,
access will drop, and many of the sickest in our country will be denied
this option.
In addition to cutting into people's health care, this report cuts
into welfare and child care funding on which many American families
depend. Last week, the Senate passed a motion to instruct conferees
that urged welfare reauthorization to be removed from the budget
package. I voted for this motion, which passed overwhelmingly. Despite
the success, the House chose to include welfare reauthorization anyway.
This was done under the radar in a move that was largely unseen by
people who will be affected by the changes. And the changes are
significant. This reauthorization represents the largest change in
welfare policy since 1996, and it will impose expensive new work
requirements on states with no additional funding provided. So those on
welfare will be working more hours, and what will they do with their
children? Child care funds have been cut by $1 billion in this bill.
This is $7.4 billion less than CBO estimates to be the cost to states
of meeting the new work requirements, and more than $11 billion less
than what states will need to ensure that their current child care
programs can stay afloat through all the additional changes in the
budget package. These are unconscionable cuts to programs that serve as
safety nets for the most vulnerable.
I am also deeply troubled that almost one-third of the savings in the
budget reconciliation bill come at the expense of the student loan
program. I regret that a portion of the savings within the student loan
program is achieved by increasing fees paid by student and parent
borrowers. While I may support provisions in this agreement that
eliminate unnecessary subsidies for lenders, the money saved through
this elimination should go toward making college more affordable and
increase grant aid such as Pell Grants. I regret that this money is not
funneled back towards increased aid for America's students.
This agreement also increases the maximum subsidized loan amounts
that first and second year students can borrow and increases the
maximum amount of unsubsidized loans that graduate students can borrow.
While increasing loan limits will help students cover the costs of
their education, I find it disheartening that we as a Congress are
pushing more of a financial burden on these students as tuition rates
around the country increase. Rather than cutting money from the student
loan program and requiring students to borrow more and pay more in
fees, we should instead be working to find ways to make a college
education affordable to all students.
While I welcome the addition of some new grant aid for Pell-eligible
students, I have heard concerns from my constituents in Wisconsin that
the requirements accompanying the increased aid will make the program
difficult to administer and could exclude many of the Pell-eligible
students from receiving this aid. One requirement for freshman and
sophomore Pell-eligible students to receive this aid is the condition
that the student must have completed a ``rigorous secondary school
program''. Under the agreement, the Secretary of Education determines
whether or not the student has fulfilled that requirement. What is not
clear, however, is how the Secretary will actually measure which
programs are deemed rigorous and therefore which students will receive
the aid. I am concerned that students who attend disadvantaged schools
will not be eligible for the aid under the wording in this agreement.
Another troubling aspect of the new grant aid is the requirement that
students attend school full-time during their first year of college.
This provision would eliminate many Pell-eligible students who attend
school part-time and work part-time. Again, I think this sends the
wrong message to our youth who are considering attending college and
attempting to finance their education.
We can do better for young Americans in Wisconsin and around the
nation by working to increase aid in an inclusive manner and working to
make a college education more affordable to all. These cuts to the
student loan program are another reason that I will vote to oppose this
conference agreement.
If there is a silver lining to this sham of a budget reconciliation
package, it is the conference committee's decision to retain the
Senate's extension of the Milk Income Loss Contract, MILC, program and
reject cuts to Food Stamps. Even this support for these two vital
programs is tempered by short-sighted cuts to other agriculture
programs such as the limits placed on conservation programs that assist
farmers in their stewardship of the land.
I will not support using reconciliation to enact harmful,
controversial policies that will worsen budget deficits and increase
the debt. No matter how many pieces you slice it into, the
reconciliation instruction in the budget resolution will leave us with
bigger deficits, not smaller ones.
This budget sends the message that those living in poverty are
Congress' lowest priority: and this reveals a profound lack of empathy
and kindness for the most defenseless in our society. When Congress and
the White House become serious about cleaning up the fiscal mess they
created, and when they are willing to spread the burden of that clean
up across all programs--defense and non-defense discretionary programs,
entitlements, and the spending done through the Tax Code--I am ready to
help. But so long as we see reconciliation measures that cut aid to
those most vulnerable, and cuts to Government spending is done on the
backs of the poor, I must oppose them.
Mr. SPECTER. On a close call I have decided to vote for the
conference report on the reconciliation bill because the benefits
slightly outweigh the disadvantages in evaluating the tradeoffs.
I start with the proposition that the savings of $40 billion over 5
years in the conference report is closer to the $35 billion passed by
the Senate than to the $50 billion cuts passed by the House of
Representatives. This deficit reduction amounts to less than one-half
of 1 percent of total Federal spending, an estimated $13.8 trillion
over the next 5 years.
Medicaid was a special concern where the conference report of a $4.8
billion reduction was much closer to the Senate figure of $4.3 billion
than to the House cut of $11 billion. While I would have preferred
targeting different reductions, the conference report does give the
States flexibility in the use of Medicaid funds so that the States will
be in a position to ameliorate hardships resulting from the proposed
reductions.
It was important that the conference report included $1 billion in
additional budget authority in fiscal year '07 for the Low Income Home
Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP, which the Congressional Budget
Office estimates will result in $625 million in outlays as we approach
the fiscal year 07 winter season which is likely to be very harsh. It
is anticipated that there will be an additional $2 billion for fiscal
year '06 added to LIHEAP in the Defense appropriations bill although
that is not a certainty because the Senate will not act on that bill
until after the vote on reconciliation.
I am further encouraged by the elimination of some $700 million on
cuts for the Food Stamp Program and the rejection of the House passed
$5 billion reduction in child support enforcement to aid local
governments which finally came in at a $1.5 billion cut.
After visiting many first responders around the State, I was pleased
to see the reconciliation bill add $1 billion for first responders who
will be very important in any prospective emergency situation.
I was also pleased to see the one year moratorium on inpatient
rehabilitation hospital provisions which require 50 percent of Medicare
beneficiaries to meet certain ailment criteria for 2 years.
I was opposed to the repeal of the Continued Dumping and Subsidiary
Offset Act, CDSOA, program but there was finally a compromise to give
the program 2 more years.
Of special significance to Pennsylvania was the addition of $998
million

[[Page S14215]]

for the Milk Income Loss Compensation, MILC, Program which is very
important to the financial status of nearly 9,000 dairy farms in the
State.
In making judgments on legislation like the reconciliation bill, we
are really faced with a Hobson's choice. None of the options is
desirable. We are constantly choosing among the lesser of the evils.
In the overall context of discretionary spending which is involved in
the reconciliation bill and in the appropriations bill for Labor,
Health and Human Services and Education, there are palpably
insufficient funds available for such domestic programs. As chairman of
the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, it
was my responsibility to structure legislation that came within the
allocations approved by the Budget Committee and Appropriations
Committee.
With a 1-percent cut at the outset and another projected one percent
across the board cut and the failure to keep up with inflation, the
subcommittee sustained a cut in real dollars approaching $7 billion. At
the conference on the bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and
Human Services, and Education, I said publicly that I would not support
the bill unless my vote was indispensable for its passage. If the bill
is not passed, we face the alternative of a continuing resolution which
will be $3 billion less than the bill, so there is no alternative, as a
matter of basic arithmetic, but to support the bill.
I have already put my Senate colleagues on notice, including the
leadership, that I will not support next year's budget unless there is
adequate funding for domestic discretionary programs with special
emphasis on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. I will
also work to correct any inequities or hardships which result from the
reconciliation bill.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I cannot support the devastating cuts to
health care that are in the budget reconciliation conference report. I
have fought to slow health care spending, but that is not what is in
this conference report. This conference report slashes and bums the
health care countryside like the barbarians descending on Rome. This
conference report is not about reform or creating a decent health
system for the poor and for seniors--it is about dismantling the system
as we know it.
For starters, the Senate-passed bill increased drug rebates so that
Medicaid beneficiaries would get better prices on their drugs. The
Senate bill increased the minimum rebates that drug manufacturers are
required to pay the Medicaid Program for drugs. The Senate package also
contained a provision that would have expanded the rebate to include
managed care drug plans. None of these improvements, which would have
produced savings of $10.5 billion over 10 years and have helped ensure
Medicaid participants get better prescription drug prices, is included
in the conference report.
The conference report reopens the Medicare Modernization Act, MMA,--
not to make improvements in the drug benefit but to push those with a
little more income to pay higher Part B premiums sooner. It seems to me
that given the confusion, the unhappiness, the need for more and better
counseling for seniors on their choices, and the need to assure cost
containment in the Part D drug benefit, you should have gone farther
than what is in the product before us and made real improvements. One
improvement that won a majority of 51 votes on the Senate floor was an
amendment I offered with Senator Snowe to allow Medicare to use its
purchasing power to benefit seniors. Giving Medicare that power would
have produced a real benefit for seniors, but that is not included
here. ``
The home health cuts in this conference report will hurt a service
that is vital to seniors. The conference report freezes home health
payments for a year. Home health care has been demonstrated to be cost
effective alternative to institutional care in both the Medicare and
Medicaid Programs. In Oregon, what is proposed here will compound the
negative impact of other cuts. Since 1997, when Congress first enacted
cuts in home health, Oregon has lost 30 home health agencies. Oregon's
home health agencies' profit margins are already at a negative 21.75
percent, and 33 of 60 home health agencies are in rural areas. I fear
what will happen to Oregon's seniors when home health agencies'
payments are frozen, but their costs keep going up.
The conference report increases copayments and premiums for the poor.
I happen to believe that everyone should pay something on the spot for
care unless they destitute, but the increases required here will force
people who can get care today to for go care tomorrow. Oregon has
learned from experience in this area. When Oregon instituted strict
copayment and premium payment policies 55,000 people dropped off
Medicaid, and most of those were people with chronic health problems,
like high blood pressure and diabetes. The reconciliation bill says
States can increase substantially the copayments that many Medicaid
beneficiaries are required to pay to access health services and
medications. Sure, there will be savings, but they will be achieved
because people just won't get care or just won't seek care. That is
not, in my view, good public health policy, and completely undermines
the purpose of Medicaid.
The conference report makes it harder for people to qualify for
Medicaid long-term care. The conference report embraces the House
provisions that restrict eligibility for Medicaid long-term care
services and squeeze more savings out of those who need Medicaid. These
provisions are far more onerous than the Senate passed bill, casting a
wide net that will force every applicant to prove they had not
transferred assets years before a disabling accident, stroke, heart
attack, broken hip, or diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease simply in order
to catch a few who intentionally transfer assets. These provisions even
go after to middle-class Americans who make modest gifts to relatives
like their grandchildren or who contribute to charity. How can anyone
expect the average American who experiences a decline in their health
years after having made a contribution to charity or given their
grandchild some money toward a college fund to keep records on all of
this? People won't be able to document many of the things they will be
required to so that families or nursing homes will end up eating the
money during the period in which their loved ones are not qualified.
Lastly, the conference report negates a court decision concerning
disproportionate share payments. One of the lawsuits brought on this
issue was brought by a number of Oregon hospitals. The result of
orturning the decision in this case is that many hospitals will be
harmed because those people who are part section 1115 waivers as an
``expansion population'' would no longer be counted for the purposes of
calculating Medicare disproportionate share payments. This harms safety
net hospitals.
There are many other reasons to reject this conference report, but
the truly harmful health care provisions stand out starkly among a sea
of damaging provisions. These, alone, are reason enough to reject this
budget document.
Mr. CORZINE. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to the 2\1/2\
million grandparents acting as primary caregivers to their
grandchildren. The situation may occur as a result of a death in the
family, a parent being away in the military, or the effect of abuse and
neglect.
I commend grandparents and other relatives who step forward to care
for these children, often at great personal sacrifice, providing an
alternative to foster care and giving them a safe, stable home.
Supportive programs like subsidized guardianship help children exit
foster care into the permanent care of caring and nurturing relatives.
In my State of New Jersey, 8 percent of the children live with
nonparent relatives. Grandparents and other relative caregivers are
often the best chance for a loving and stable childhood for the
children in their care, but their hard work and dedication often go
unnoticed.
I am deeply saddened that today the Senate made cuts in the budget
that would deprive so many kinship caregivers of critical Federal
support. We should be expanding support for these caregivers, not
reducing it.
Mr. President, today I offer my formal acknowledgement and deepest
appreciation for the ongoing service of

[[Page S14216]]

these caregivers to our country and our Nation's most valuable asset,
our children. I commend Generations United for their hard work in
helping improve the lives of our children.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, it has been said that a great test of
morality is what people do when they have power. The fast-track budget
reconciliation rules mean that the majority party can essentially do
whatever it wants in a reconciliation bill if they act in lockstep. The
reason is simple. Reconciliation debates in the Senate can only last 20
hours and the final version of the bill--a reconciliation conference
report--only can be debated for 10 hours.
The majority party can even orchestrate a single meeting with
conferees and immediately gavel it over almost when it starts, doing
everything behind-the-scenes with no consultation and without sharing
drafts of even sweeping policy changes in proposed major laws.
They not only can do such things, they just did them.
But let me start at the beginning. The President's budget proposal
for programs under the oversight of the Judiciary Committee, issued in
February of this year, called for a user fee on the manufacture and
importation of gunpowder and other explosives of two cents per pound.
The President requested that Congress enact these user fees--some
called it a tax--to raise $600 million over the next five years.
Because of that White House proposal on gunpowder and other explosives,
the budget resolution of the other body called for the Judiciary
Committee to meet a target of $600 million.
The Senate-passed budget resolution did not require any cuts to be
made by the Judiciary Committee. This is the usual approach for the
Judiciary Committee since the Committee controls few, yet very
important, mandatory spending programs. For example, it is difficult to
make significant reductions to mandatory programs, including: pensions
for U.S. Judges; the Crime Victim's Trust Fund; salaries of U.S.
Marshals; the Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund; the Copyright
Owners' Fund; the diversion control fee account of the Drug Enforcement
Agency; border patrol salaries and expenses; the assets forfeiture fund
for U.S. Marshals, and other sources. It is also difficult to increase
Patent and Trademark Office fees or Copyright Office fees since there
is not a compelling reason to do so.
In the end, in order to comply with the budget resolution, the
Judiciary Committee of the Senate and the Judiciary Committee of the
other body were required to come up with $300 million in revenue or to
make $300 million in cuts.
The first casualty in this process was the White House proposal to
tax gunpowder and other explosives. There was little support by the
majority party for even making half the President's proposed increases
in the gunpowder tax. Many other alternatives were considered by the
majority party.
Finally, a proposal was worked out in the Judiciary Committee that
had my support, and the strong support of universities and many
business leaders. For example, the National Association of State
Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, Motorola, Oracle, Sun
Microsystems, Texas Instruments, Intel, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard,
Qualcomm, for high-tech workers. The House also included immigration
fees in their proposal.
However, after an aborted conference meeting which started at 9 p.m.
last Friday night, and ended a few minutes later, what has the Majority
party proposed as a compromise on the immigration fees? They came up
with increasing fees on all citizens to get into federal courts and
into bankruptcy court. The bankruptcy fee increase raises some ironies.
The increase in fees for citizens trying to seek judicial relief
narrows access to courts.
So we have gone from the President's proposal to tax gunpowder and
other explosives and mysteriously ended up with a tax on citizens to
get into federal court and bankruptcy court. Nevertheless, the majority
party--as long as they are in lockstep together--has nearly absolute
power in a reconciliation bill that enjoys only limited debate. History
will record what they have done with that power.
What is especially unfortunate is that the version of the
reconciliation bill reported out by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and
approved by the full Senate by unanimous consent to the Budget
Reconciliation Act, was a bipartisan amendment offered by Senator
Specter and myself to allocate the extra $278,000,000 in revenue
provided from the Judiciary Committee markup on reconciliation to
supplement funding that is demonstrably needed for the Bulletproof Vest
Partnership Fund, programs authorized by the Justice For All Act, and a
Copyright Royalty Judges Program.
The Judiciary Committee markup on its reconciliation title provided
$278,000,000 more in revenue than was mandated by the Budget Resolution
instructions.
The Specter-Leahy Senate proposal approved by the full Senate--would
have provided $60,000,000 over the next five years for such initiatives
as the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program, to help law enforcement
agencies purchase or replace body armor for their rank-and-file
officers.
Recently, concerns over body armor safety surfaced when a
Pennsylvania police officer was shot and critically wounded through his
new vest outfitted with a material called Zylon, which is a registered
trademark. The Justice Department has since announced that Zylon fails
to provide the intended level of ballistic resistance.
Unfortunately, an estimated 200,000 vests outfitted with that
material have been purchased--many with Bulletproof Vest Partnership
funds--and now must be replaced. Law enforcement agencies nationwide
are struggling to find the funds necessary to replace defective vests
with ones that will actually stop bullets and save lives. Our Senate
Judiciary provisions would have funded those efforts. Unfortunately,
the majority party dropped this language.
Our Senate Judiciary language--approved by the full Senate--also
provided more than $216,000,000 for programs authorized by the Justice
For All Act of 2004, a landmark law that enhances protections for
victims of Federal crimes, increases Federal resources available to
State and local governments to combat crimes with DNA technology, and
provides safeguards to prevent wrongful convictions and executions.
The Senate Judiciary Committee language also would have funded
training of criminal justice and medical personnel in the use of DNA
evidence, including evidence for post-conviction DNA testing. It would
have promoted the use of DNA technology to identify missing persons.
With these funds, State and local authorities would have been better
able to implement and enforce crime victims' rights laws, including
Federal victim and witness assistance programs.
State and local governments would have been able to apply for grants
to develop and implement victim notification systems to share
information on criminal proceedings in a timely and efficient manner.
That language would have helped improve the quality of legal
representation provided to both indigent defendants and the public in
State capital cases.
Last, but certainly not least, our amendment provided $6,500,000 over
five years for the Copyright Royalty Judges Program at the Library of
Congress. The Copyright Royalty Distribution Reform Act of 2004 created
a new program in the Library to replace most of the current statutory
responsibilities of the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panels program.
The Copyright Royalty Judges Program was supposed to determine
distributions of royalties that are disputed and set or adjust royalty
rates, terms and conditions, with the exception of satellite carriers'
compulsory licenses. The Senate-passed language would have helped pay
the salaries and related expenses of the three royalty judges and three
administrative staff required by law to support this program.
Unfortunately, instead of raising more funds than we needed through
widely supported increases in immigration fees and using them for these
law-enforcement and other programs we are instead going to increase the
cost of access to federal courts and not fund any of these other
priorities.
What may be the most troubling aspect of this abuse of power is that
by substantially increasing fees to get

[[Page S14217]]

into federal courts the majority party raised $253 million more in
revenue than it needed to meet the reconciliation target. That means
that all the above priorities in the Senate-passed bill including
bulletproof vests for law enforcement, use of DNA technology to
identify missing persons, and better enforcement of crime victims'
rights laws could have been included at only slightly reduced levels of
support.
The Republican Congress has missed a great opportunity in this abuse
of power.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I also must express my opposition to the
irresponsible domestic budget policy that has been forwarded by the
majority party. The Senate is being asked to approve spending and
budget bills that make deep cuts to programs that serve some of our
country's neediest citizens. A time of year typically signified by
wishes of goodwill towards all, it is difficult to be anything but
outraged by this attack on critical components of our social safety
net.
While many in the majority party have claimed that these bills are
needed in order to reduce the deficit, with the knowledge that the
leadership will make passing massive tax cuts benefiting some of the
wealthiest among us a priority during the next session, this argument
is simply disingenuous.
Instead of putting the country on the road to fiscal security, these
bills expose the agenda of the majority that blatantly undermines
American families and make clear where the priorities of the majority
party lie. It is not with the family that relies on Medicaid for their
health insurance, the student who, without student aid, cannot afford
to attend college, or the mother who needs childcare so that she can go
to work and put food on the table for her family. Nor is it with the
single mother who has been abandoned without child support, the
grandparent raising their grandchild on a fixed income, or the worker
who has lost his or her job and is trying to be retrained.
No, the priorities of this majority party consistently lie with the
powerful special interests and big drug companies. At every opportunity
the Republican leadership has had to choose between supporting the
American people or wealthy corporate interests, and they have sided
with the corporate interests. Even by the standards of this first
session of the 109th Congress, with the consistent erosion of consumer
protections and support for American working families, these bills sink
to new lows. As a result, dozens of health, education, labor, and human
services programs will be cut and millions of people who rely on these
programs will suffer.
Some of the most egregious policies in these bills expose the
disparity between the treatment of big drug companies and those
individuals who must rely on Medicaid as their primary form of health
care. With numerous options on the table, the Republican leadership
chose to use the budget reconciliation bill to increase Medicaid co-
payments and premiums, potentially eliminated federal standards for
comprehensive Medicaid care, and created highly restrictive rules
governing the transfer of assets for those who require care in a
nursing home. Rather than do away with an unnecessary multi-billion
dollar slush fund for insurers and drug companies, a small group of
Congressional budget writers has chosen to freeze home health payments
that ensure seniors are able to receive care in the comfort of their
own homes.
In addition, this year's Labor, Health and Human Services, Labor-HHS,
appropriations bill shortchanges our country's rural health programs.
For instance, the bill eliminates five programs, including funding for
Rural EMS and Health Education Training Centers, which are critical to
the fragile network of the rural health care infrastructure.
One of the most disappointing aspects of the Labor-HHS Bill was the
treatment of the National Institutes of Health, NIH. Not since 1970 has
the NIH been provided an increase as small as the one contained in this
bill. As a result, the vital medical research being done around the
country, including in my home state at the University of Vermont, will
suffer. The search for cures to innumerable diseases will be slowed and
foreign competitors will be given a chance to exploit our short-
sightedness.
Not only will this Congress take the step of cutting education for
the first time in ten years, these will be the biggest cuts in history
to student loan programs. A remarkable $12.7 billion will be cut from
student aid programs so that there will be no increase to the Pell
Grant for an astonishing fourth year in a row. While making changes to
eliminate loopholes in student loan lending laws, it appears that small
lenders that specialize in providing comprehensive loan counseling to
students have been given short-shrift. It appears that from almost
every angle, students are assaulted by these policies.
For those education programs that are lucky enough to escape the
knife, they will either be frozen or given minimal increases. I am
curious to know how our Nation's schools can be expected to meet and
exceed the standards set forth in the No Child Left Behind Act, when
Congress is content to slash funding by three percent, leaving these
programs to sink more than $13 billion below their authorized levels.
It has been almost 5 years since Congress passed this legislation, and
we have consistently failed to meet our commitment to students, parents
and teachers.
In what is becoming a hallmark of this Republican leadership, these
conference reports are loaded down with controversial legislation
approved by neither body. Despite bipartisan support for legislation
approved by the Senate Finance Committee earlier this year, Senators
are being asked to approve a five-year reauthorization of the Temporary
Assistance to Needy Families Program that would impose strict new
working requirements with only nominal new funding for child care
support. At the same time Congress asks single mothers to work longer
hours, it cuts money for child support enforcement, dollars that are
used to track down deadbeat dads.
Though it is a sad commentary on the current state of affairs when
one of the lone bright spots for health and human service programs is
that this bill includes no cuts to the Food Stamp program, I would be
remiss if I did not mention my appreciation that this program remained
unscathed. While protecting Food Stamps should be hailed as a victory,
the Community Food and Nutrition Program, a modestly sized program that
helps support anti-hunger advocacy groups, was not so fortunate. The
work being done on the local levels by these groups is extremely
important, and it is my hope that these funds will be restored next
year.
The programs and services I have mentioned are but a few of the
dozens of cuts that will negatively impact families across the country.
As we usher out the final days of 2005 and the 1st Session of the 109th
Congress, I am saddened that the last actions of this body will be to
pass such harmful bills. After more than 30 years in the Senate, I know
that we can do better and it is my sincere hope that when we return
next year, we will reverse the wayward direction set by such policies
and implemented by such legislation.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, for most Americans, the holiday season is a
time for giving. But for the Congress, it seems, the holiday season is
also a time for taking, at least judging by the budget reconciliation
legislation before this body.
Americans around the country, are concerned about their economic
security. Whether they work in a factory or behind a desk, they are
feeling increasingly vulnerable to the volatilities of the global
economy. While American families are concerned about economic security,
this budget reconciliation legislation would cut the safety net that
protects them. The burden would fall most heavily on working Americans,
in particular, on low-income parents and children, the elderly, and
people with disabilities. Moreover, while supporters of this bill cite
fiscal discipline as the rationale for making harmful cuts, when this
bill is considered in combination with its companion tax reconciliation
legislation, the total package would increase the deficit rather than
reduce it. For these reasons I cannot support this funding cut
reconciliation bill.
I have been a strong proponent of fiscal responsibility throughout my
service in this body. I have introduced and supported pay-as-you go
budget rules; supported the landmark Gramm-Rudman-Hollings budget
process reforms;

[[Page S14218]]

and, during the 1990's, voted to balance the budget for the first time
in 30 years. This budget reconciliation legislation, does not advance
the cause of fiscal responsibility. Every penny saved in funding cuts
and then some will be spent on new tax breaks, most of which will
benefit a small number of affluent individuals who neither need nor
seek such reckless largesse from their leaders in Washington. The
Senate has already approved $60 billion worth of tax cuts over the next
5 years, and the House has approved more than $90 billion.
Under the Bush administration, our National debt has grown from $5.7
trillion to more than $8 trillion. The portion of that debt held by
foreign creditors has more than doubled. And our Federal budget has
fallen from a $236 billion surplus in 2000 to a $319 billion deficit in
2005. The Republican budget reconciliation package would only make this
record of fiscal recklessness worse.
The cuts in this bill, if enacted, would make it harder for working
Americans to find a job and afford such basic needs as health care and
child care. At a time when international competition demands that we
invest in our people and our society, this bill radically scales back
our Nation's crucial commitments. At a time when we should be expanding
access to higher education for all Americans, this bill puts college
further out of reach for many students. And at a time when many
businesses and millions of Americans cannot afford even the most basic
health care coverage, this bill passes the buck, and the burden of
paying, onto those who are already struggling to afford care. Instead
of offering solutions, this bill offers more lip service to a failed,
partisan ideological agenda that weakens our Nation's long-term
strength.
Perhaps most controversially, the bill before us would make the
biggest changes to Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, TANF, policy
since 1996, going even beyond the provisions in the House-passed
reconciliation bill. The Republican majority hopes to ram through these
changes without any debate or consideration by this body. This is no
way to run a country by not just ignoring those in the minority, but
actively trampling over dissenting views.
Children in low-income families will suffer the most. This section of
the bill creates new, unrealistic work requirements for TANF recipients
that would effectively amount to a backdoor way of cutting funds. It
authorizes $2.5 billion less this year for child care than what is
necessary to keep pace with inflation, which, over the next 10 years,
will create a more than $11 billion shortfall and cause an estimated
255,000 children to lose care. It cuts child support enforcement, which
will reduce child support collections by $8.4 billion over 10 years.
And it completely eliminates Federal foster care support for
grandparents and other relatives who care for children who have been
abused or neglected and removed from their parents.
These cuts reflect a fundamental lack of understanding by the
Republican majority of the struggles most Americans face every day.
Moreover, they are based upon a faulty economic rationale. Though our
overall economy grew somewhat between 2000 and 2004, those who
benefited from that growth are mostly at the top of the income pyramid.
Indeed, the number of children living below one-half of the poverty
line rose by nearly 1.5 million. Somewhere, the link has been broken,
and not all families are sharing in our Nation's economic growth.
Instead of looking for solutions, the cuts in this bill would
exacerbate the problems faced with courage every day by American
families. If history is any guide, the families forced off of TANF
would be those who, without a lifeline, are the most likely to fall
into deep poverty. Child care assistance helps working parents keep
their jobs and parents who have lost their jobs find new ones. If
adequate child care and other supports are not available to low-income
workers, the TANF rolls will increase again. We would be taking a step
backward in helping people move from welfare to work. We should be
constantly innovating and strengthening our policies in this area, not
blindly cutting them in favor of unaffordable tax policies, as this
reconciliation package would do.
In addition, this reconciliation bill would also reduce health care
coverage and increase costs for some of the most vulnerable members of
our society. Most troublingly, this conference agreement proposes to
increase co-payments and premiums for Americans who rely on Medicaid
for their health care. Under this agreement, low-income Medicaid
beneficiaries would be forced to pay more for their needed health care
services and medicines. This, despite the fact that a recognized and
growing body of evidence demonstrates that ill Medicaid beneficiaries
will likely forego medical treatment in the face of increases in co-
payments. Such decisions often lead to greater health problems, and
larger health care costs, later on. On top of these co-payment
increases, this package will additionally allow States to increase the
premiums that Medicaid beneficiaries must pay to enroll in the program
in the first place.
Also deeply troubling about this agreement is its granting to States
the ability to decrease the scope of their Medicaid programs. The
Federal Government currently requires State Medicaid programs to adhere
to a set of standards that ensure comprehensive health care coverage
for Medicaid beneficiaries. This agreement will significantly lower
these standards and will allow States to lessen needed coverage for
those most in need.
As alarming as these provisions are, just as galling is what this
bill lacks. The Senate-passed reconciliation package rightly contained
two significant and cost-saving provisions that are absent from the
package currently before us. First, the Senate bill sought to increase
the rebates that pharmaceutical manufacturers must pay the Federal
Government for medicines provided to Medicaid beneficiaries. Second,
the same bill achieved $10 billion in savings by eliminating the so-
called ``stabilization'' fund designed to encourage preferred provider
organizations to participate in the Medicare program. Both of these
valuable provisions have gone missing in this conference agreement.
Finally, in addition to weakening the safety net that allows
Americans to weather tough times, this budget reconciliation
legislation also shortchanges the millions of families trying to send
their children to college. It provides no general increase in need-
based aid. Instead, it limits the increase to a narrowly defined subset
of students who may or may not demonstrate as much need as their peers.
In fact, there are so many restrictions on who qualifies for the
increased Pell funds that I question how many students will actually
receive it.
This version of reconciliation also ignores a number of other
provisions that were important to the Senate: loan forgiveness for
child care workers, protections as we open up distance learning, and
more consumer information for students that are consolidating loans.
All of these provisions have disappeared. Instead we are left with a
narrowly crafted bill that does not help all students achieve their
college dreams. In my opinion, this bill represents a lost opportunity
for students and a lost opportunity for this body to assist them.
The conference agreement before us today ignores the values and
concerns of ordinary Americans. Instead of investing our resources
intelligently in the priorities that will make America strong and
secure into the future like education, health care and the fight
against terrorism it weakens important safety net provisions, decreases
health care coverage and increases cost burdens, and reduces access to
higher education. America needs priorities that reflect our values as a
country and that prepare our people, especially our children, for a
future of freedom, prosperity and security. Regrettably, this
reconciliation legislation falls far short.
Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, the spending cut bill before us is
shameful. I have always said that it is my job to look out for the day-
to-day needs of Marylanders and the long-term needs of the Nation. I am
sorry to say this bill does neither. In the holiday season, this bill
makes draconian spending cuts in critically important programs. This is
not done for balancing the budget, which I support. It is done to pay
for more tax cuts to the superwealthy.
These spending cuts don't only hurt hard-working Americans. They chip

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away at the very foundation of the American dream and do so at the
worst possible time. For example, we face unprecedented challenges from
increased global competition. Our country has always had the ability to
rise above these challenges because of America's incredible capacity to
innovate. It is our responsibility to empower Americans to innovate.
Unfortunately, this bill represents the wrong priorities for this
country, not those held by the vast majority of Americans.
Nowhere do individual and national priorities more closely converge
than funding for education. Education has always been our country's
greatest engine for climbing the ladder of opportunity. It is also the
greatest engine for our national aspiration: that each generation will
have a better life than the one that came before. International trade
and outsourcing have already shuttered several of our industries and
threaten to do the same to others. Other countries are investing
heavily to train and educate their people. They are manufacturing
products less expensively than could be done here at home, often due to
their weak labor and environmental protections. That is why we must
preserve America's remarkable lead in the amazing race to innovate. To
do this, we must realize that innovation starts with a well-educated
population.
Unfortunately, this bill makes the biggest cuts to student loan
programs in history. For the fourth year in a row, the maximum Pell
grant will remain the same. And while Pell grants stagnate, interest
rates for student loans will increase. Republicans have also made it
more difficult for students to consolidate their loans so that they
will end up paying more for college. So not only is there less student
aid available but this bill actually makes it tougher to qualify for
need-based aid so that it will only go to a small group of students,
decreasing the number of low-income people who are eligible to receive
aid. It also gives private lenders and banks an unfair advantage over
more cost efficient Federal loan programs, which increases costs for
taxpayers.
These cuts couldn't come at a worse time. College tuition is on the
rise and financial aid isn't keeping up. Pell grants cover only 40
percent of average costs at a 4-year public college. Twenty years ago,
they covered 80 percent. Our students are graduating with so much debt
it is like their first mortgage. College is part of the American dream;
it shouldn't be part of the American financial nightmare. Families are
looking for help. And I am sad to say the Republicans don't offer them
much hope. This bill has all the wrong priorities. Instead of easing
the burden on middle-class families and increasing student aid for all
students, they want to help out big business cronies with lavish tax
breaks.
We need to do more to help middle-class families afford college. We
need to increase the maximum Pell grant to $4,500 and double it over
the next 6 years. We need to make sure student loans are affordable.
And we need a bigger tuition tax credit for the families in the middle
who aren't eligible for Pell grants but still can't afford college.
My family believed in the American dream. They believed there is no
barrier to having hopes. Through hard work and sacrifice, everyone
should be able to pursue a higher education. But belief in the American
dream is shrinking. There is not a dream deficit, there is a wallet
deficit. There is not a talent deficit, there is an opportunity
deficit. And at a time when the opportunity ladder is already creaky
and shaky, the Republicans are trying to tear down this ladder by
making massive cuts to student aid. Sadly, this will cripple our
Nation's ability to innovate and compete in the global market.
Those aren't the only bad things in this bill. It also slashes health
care. I believe that every American should have the right to affordable
health care, especially as they get old and need it the most.
Unfortunately, this conference report cuts a net $6.9 billion in
existing Medicaid spending. This will force beneficiaries to pay higher
premiums and receive less health care coverage.
I am particularly alarmed by the bill's changes to eligibility for
long-term care coverage for elderly Americans needing care. This bill
would require the government to look back at a senior's assets for the
past 5 years and consider the value of their home to be eligible for
long-term care. This is unfair. We should be supporting our elders, not
punishing them.
And that is not all. As temperatures drop and heating prices rise,
this bill will literally leave Marylanders and Americans in the cold.
Oil companies are now making record profits. Republicans beat back each
of our attempts to eliminate tax giveaways to these same companies. Now
energy prices are soaring and the bill falls $1.3 billion short in
funding the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. LIHEAP helps
hard-working Americans afford to stay warm. But it won't have enough
funds to do this next year.
The reconciliation bill also suspends important Federal housing
programs that preserve affordable housing. Republicans are prioritizing
additional tax cuts for the superwealthy by killing a program to
preserve affordable housing for working families. They too will be left
out in the cold. The Millennium Housing Commission cited a lack of
affordable housing as the primary cause of homelessness. So here again,
the spending cut bill serves to squash our aspirations.
When many of our families first moved to the United States, they were
drawn to the promise of a better life--the ``American dream.'' They
could aspire to a better life for themselves, their families, and their
kids. They knew that hard work could make that dream a reality. For
many generations, this country allowed each generation to be better off
than the one before it. If we follow the course laid out before us
today, our children are not going to be able to say the same thing.
Mr. President, America can do better. We must look out for both the
day-to-day needs of those who have elected us and also the Nation's
long-term interests. This bill does neither. I strongly oppose this
bill and urge my colleagues to do the same.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, as we all know, the Budget Reconciliation
Act contains an appalling number of devastating cuts that will hurt
millions of Americans. But I do commend the conferees for including the
Family Opportunity Act, which will remove the barriers in current law
that penalize families struggling to stay together and make ends meet
when their children have high health costs because of disabilities.
For the past 6 years, Senator Grassley and I have worked with many
parents and leaders in communities across the country to reach this
milestone. Countless parents, family members, citizens, friends,
neighbors, and colleagues face this problem today. As they make very
clear, the Nation is failing families with severely disabled children
by not giving them access to the health care they need to stay home and
live in their communities. Many of them have been on the front lines in
raising the Nation's awareness of their plight, and they have been
fearless and tireless warriors for justice, and this legislation could
not have happened without them. Today, their long wait is nearly over.
The Family Opportunity Act is for them. It allows families of
children with severe disabilities to purchase health care coverage
under Medicaid, without first having to impoverish themselves or give
up custody of their disabled children.
Almost 1 in 10 children in America has significant disabilities. But
many do not have access to even the most basic health care they need,
because their private health insurance won't cover them. Often, their
needs are treated as ``exclusions'' in their policies--no coverage for
hearing aids, for services related to mental retardation, for physical
therapy, for services at school, and on and on.
That is why this legislation is so important--these children will now
have access to these needed services and have a genuine opportunity at
least to achieve full potential.
When we think of disabled children, we tend to think of them as
disabled from birth. But fewer than 10 percent of such children are
born with their disabilities. A bicycle accident or a serious fall or
illness can suddenly disable even the healthiest of children. Many of
them with significant disabilities do not have access to even the most
basic health services, because their families can't afford them.

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No longer will these families be forced to become poor, stay poor, or
even do the unthinkable by putting their children in institutions or
giving up custody of them, so that their children can qualify for
Medicaid.
Families of special needs children often have to turn down jobs, turn
down raises, or turn down overtime pay to keep a child eligible for
benefits under Medicaid.
No longer will parents be forced to give up their children or give up
being part of our Nation's economy.
This bill will change the life of 13-year-old Alice in Oklahoma, who
was disabled because of multiple dystrophy. Under this bill, she will
be able to have a personal assistant living at home with her family.
She will be able to go to her neighborhood school.
This bill will change the life of Johnny in Indiana, who has a severe
mental illness and needs numerous mental health therapies and drugs.
His mother will no longer be forced to give up custody of him in order
to obtain the treatment he needs. Her goal of being a productive
citizen and keeping her son at home will no longer be denied because
her son will now have the health care and support he needs.
This bill will transform the life of Abby in Massachusetts, who is 6
years old and has multiple disabilities. Her parents are deeply
concerned about her future if the existing buy-in State program for
Medicaid is weakened. Without the buy-in, her parents would be
bankrupted by her current medical bills. Now Abby and her family will
have real opportunity to grow and work and prosper.
The legislation also gives States greater flexibility to enable
children with mental health disabilities to obtain the health care they
need in order to live at home and in their communities, instead of
being placed in institutions.
It establishes Family to Family Information Centers in each State to
help parents find the resources they need to meet the unique health
care requests of their disabled children.
Six years ago this week, President Clinton signed the Ticket to Work
Act into law. That legislation demonstrates our commitment to give
adults with disabilities the right to lead independent and productive
lives, without giving up their health care.
Today we make the same commitment to children with disabilities and
their families.
These provisions will undoubtedly be among the most important bills
passed by this Senate. It closes the health care gap for the Nation's
most vulnerable population, and enables families of disabled children
to be equal participants in the American dream. It will truly change
lives, and I commend my colleagues in both the House and the Senate on
both sides of the aisle for their dedicated and their leadership that
have made this day possible at long last.
Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, last week I came before this body to
highlight the potentially harmful effects of budget reconciliation on
our Nation's working families. I asked my colleagues to hold firm
against the special interests in order to protect the Federal guarantee
of Medicaid benefits for the 50 million Americans who depend on this
vital program for health care. When the Medicaid motion to instruct
conferees passed by a vote of 75 to 16, I thought the Senate was
serious about preserving access to health coverage for children,
pregnant women, the elderly, and disabled across our country.
However, my hope quickly faded when the budget reconciliation
conference report was released earlier this week. Instead of providing
more assistance to families in need, the reconciliation conference
report includes even greater cuts than those passed in the House of
Representatives to vital safety net programs like Medicaid.
Under this conference bill, the early and periodic screening,
diagnostic, and treatment, EPSDT, benefit, which provides children with
access to necessary immunizations, checkups, and preventive services,
is eliminated. This means that low-income children--no matter how
poor--will no longer be guaranteed vision, hearing and dental
screenings; coverage for eyeglasses; therapy services, medical
equipment that will allow them to attend school; or any other Medicaid
services. Without access to this comprehensive benefit, many children
will not get the vital medical care they need and will develop medical
conditions that could have been prevented.
The reconciliation language also begins to erode Federal laws
protecting Medicaid recipients from burdensome cost-sharing. Under this
bill, States would be allowed to index nominal cost sharing amounts by
medical inflation, which grows at least twice as fast as wages. States
would also be allowed to charge co-insurance up to four times higher
than the 5 percent co-insurance allowed today. This means that Medicaid
beneficiaries could pay as much as 20 percent of the cost of any
Medicaid service--which for some would consume their entire monthly
income. Such cost-sharing requirements are unacceptable for a safety-
net program designed to help working families when times get tough.
This bill gives States the green light to vary benefit packages based
on factors such as geography and disease. If enacted, Medicaid
recipients will no longer have equal protection under the law. Instead,
residents in rural areas of a State could receive fewer Medicaid
benefits than those living in more populated, urban areas. Individuals
with diseases that are expensive to treat may receive a narrower set of
benefits than those with diseases that are less expensive to treat.
And, if residents and diseases are treated differently in a State, then
providers can also be reimbursed differently depending on their
geographic location and the types of patients they treat. Such a
haphazard benefit system will lead to more emergency room visits by
beneficiaries and decreased provider participation in the Medicaid
program. It would appear that, for some of my colleagues on the other
side of the aisle, the vote in favor of the motion to instruct
conferees was nothing more than a procedural motion--more rhetoric than
substance, more posturing than true concern--because many of the
Medicaid provisions included in the budget reconciliation package got
even worse after the Senate voted overwhelmingly in opposition to
increased beneficiary cost-sharing, barriers to eligibility and
enrollment, and any other provisions that would undermine the Federal
guarantee of Medicaid coverage.
In all my time in the Senate, I cannot remember a time when we have
considered such drastic cuts to safety-net programs that threaten to
devastate working families. These are families who struggle to eat and
pay their bills, let alone pay for much needed health care services;
families of limited means who have done their best to contribute to a
system that is now essentially turning its back on them. The cuts
contained in this budget reconciliation conference report are
reprehensible.
This country has a moral obligation to help our fellow Americans in
their time of need. We should not offer billions of dollars in
additional giveaways to the wealthiest Americans and special interests
at the expense of working families already struggling to make ends
meet.
I believe we can do better. Hard-working Americans deserve better;
low-income children deserve better; the elderly, the disabled and
parents who want to see their children go to college and succeed
deserve better. We have a responsibility, Mr. President, and I would
hope we would live up to that responsibility.
Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I am pleased that we have passed the
Deficit Reduction Act today. It is a good first step to curbing run
away spending in our entitlement programs, and it provides essential
Medicaid relief to hurricane victims in my state.
However, I am deeply concerned with the provision in the bill that
repeals the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act, also known as the
Byrd amendment. Many of my colleague and I signed a letter to the
conferees urging that this repeal be excluded from the final bill. This
important law helps counter unfair trade practices of other countries
by using revenues from duties collected to compensate injured
industries. In Louisiana, most of our seafood industries have been
severely affected by illegal dumping from China and other nations, and
the Byrd amendment is one of the few things that could effective help
the families in these industries, who are now also reeling from
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,

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to survive in their business and maintain our unique culture and way of
life.
I have been very frustrated with the Commerce Department and the
Customs Department efforts to comply with the Byrd amendment as it
stands now. Commerce does not properly set the duty collection rates,
and Customs is severely lax in collecting tariffs that are due. Seafood
tariffs uncollected stand at over $200 million from China alone right
now. As these tariffs are not collected as they should be, illegal
dumping continues, and our seafood and other industries are not being
paid what they are due under the law.
This bill supposedly has a phase out of CDSOA for 2 years, in which
pending cases are supposed to be paid. I fear with the current record
of collections and distribution, this 2 year phaseout won't give much
relief. I do not feel that this phaseout is adequate, and the repeal
this important law should not have been included in this bill. It is
not right to use industries that are victims of illegal trade practices
to carry a large burden of balancing the budget.
I urge my colleagues to help me force the bureaucrats to do their
work, collect these tariffs, and make the already due payments under
the Byrd amendment. While the law may be unwisely repealed in this
bill, the previously due payment should be paid and paid quickly.
Mr. GREGG. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The question is on agreeing to the motion to concur in the House
amendment with the Senate amendment.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 50, nays 50, as follows:

[Rollcall Vote No. 363 Leg.]

YEAS--50

Alexander
Allard
Allen
Bennett
Bond
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Burr
Chambliss
Coburn
Cochran
Coleman
Cornyn
Craig
Crapo
DeMint
Dole
Domenici
Ensign
Enzi
Frist
Graham
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Hatch
Hutchison
Inhofe
Isakson
Kyl
Lott
Lugar
Martinez
McCain
McConnell
Murkowski
Roberts
Santorum
Sessions
Shelby
Specter
Stevens
Sununu
Talent
Thomas
Thune
Vitter
Voinovich
Warner

NAYS--50

Akaka
Baucus
Bayh
Biden
Bingaman
Boxer
Byrd
Cantwell
Carper
Chafee
Clinton
Collins
Conrad
Corzine
Dayton
DeWine
Dodd
Dorgan
Durbin
Feingold
Feinstein
Harkin
Inouye
Jeffords
Johnson
Kennedy
Kerry
Kohl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Mikulski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Obama
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Salazar
Sarbanes
Schumer
Smith
Snowe
Stabenow
Wyden
The VICE PRESIDENT. On this vote, the yeas are 50, the nays are 50.
The Senate being equally divided, the Vice President votes in the
affirmative, and the motion to concur in the House amendment with a
further amendment is agreed to.
Mr. FRIST. I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. McCONNELL. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

____________________