[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 12 (Monday, February 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S723]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     DEFICIT REDUCTION ACT OF 2005

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I am pleased that the House of 
Representatives has passed S. 1932, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, 
DRA. This is a relatively modest deficit-reduction bill that represents 
just one-fourth of 1 percent of what Congress would otherwise spend 
during the next 5 years.
  It has been 8 years since Congress last passed legislation to reduce 
mandatory spending. The kinds of Medicaid changes made in the 
conference report are a fraction of what Governors across the country--
Republican and Democrat--asked Congress for to help State governments 
keep their Medicaid programs afloat for the millions of people who rely 
on Medicaid. Beneficiaries and taxpayers both deserve to get the 
highest value for every dollar that is spent on Medicaid, Medicare, and 
other safety-net programs.
  It is especially rewarding to have included in this overall package a 
bill I first authored in 1999. The Family Opportunity Act, which I have 
pushed for year after year with Senator Kennedy, was inspired by an 
Iowa family struggling to access health care services for a disabled 
child. Melissa Arnold, the mother, didn't give up, and today's 
legislative victory is a tribute to her kind of determination. The 
measure will let States create options for families that have children 
with multiple medical needs to buy into Medicaid while continuing to 
work. It is a pro-work initiative because it lets parents work without 
losing their children's health coverage. It is pro-family because it 
encourages parents to work and build a better life for their children, 
rather than being forced to impoverish themselves to access health 
care. And it is pro-taxpayer because it means more parents continue to 
earn money, pay taxes and pay their own way for Medicaid coverage for 
their children.
  In addition to this expansion of the Medicaid program, the 
comprehensive legislation includes $400 million in child-support 
payments that will go directly to welfare families, along with grants 
to promote healthy marriages and responsible fatherhood, $100 million 
to improve the handling of court cases involving foster care, a $200 
million increase for a Safe and Stable Families program to help keep 
troubled families together and support adoption, and $1 billion to help 
parents pay for child care when they leave welfare and join the 
workforce.
  On Medicaid, some partisan critics and their allies will probably 
continue to distort the bill's intent and effect. I am repeating this--
the provisions on benefit flexibility and cost sharing are clear and 
unambiguous. The Congressional Budget Office and the Centers for 
Medicare and Medicaid Services agree. The conferees agreed to language 
that clearly provides early periodic screening, diagnosis and treatment 
as a guaranteed benefit to all children on Medicaid. The conferees also 
agreed to language that clearly exempts individuals with incomes of 
less than 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Limit from any increased 
cost-sharing. I fought hard for these provisions and I will take 
appropriate actions to prevent any misreading of them to occur down the 
road.

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