[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 46 (Tuesday, April 25, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3435-S3437]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               FOCUSING ON THE CHALLENGES FACING AMERICA

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I welcome my colleagues back from the 
Easter/Passover recess. It was a 2-week recess, where many had the 
opportunity to spend time with our families and with our constituents 
back at home. I hope everybody had a rejuvenating and productive period 
of time because we have a lot to do.
  We have before us a 5-week block of time, during which I intend to 
keep the Senate focused on the big challenges facing America and on 
delivering meaningful solutions to the problems Americans are seeing 
out there every day, some of which are very apparent and some of which 
are not very apparent in their everyday lives.
  As we set out from the very start, the goal of this Republican-led 
Senate is to make America safer, stronger, more productive, and 
healthier. That applies across the board, from the war on terror 
abroad--and we will have a lot of discussion on that on the 
supplemental--to the family budget right here at home, and people are 
feeling the pinch of gasoline prices and skyrocketing health care costs 
every day.
  Time is of the essence. We have serious issues to tackle in 5 short 
weeks. That means working together, pulling the very best out of both 
sides of the aisle, and recognizing that obstruction is not in order as 
we proceed along this upward path of producing for the American people.
  It is an election year. That always makes it challenging for 
everything we do every step along the way. But the American people 
expect us to legislate, to govern, and not to get mired down in 
partisan obstruction and partisan politics. It is our obligation and 
responsibility to deliver to them. We have the challenges out there. We 
have to act and we need to act with solutions. That is what the 
American people expect--challenge, action, solutions. That is what they 
deserve.

  We need to support our troops who are fighting in the field for our 
freedom and safety. We need to address the skyrocketing health care 
costs and make

[[Page S3436]]

health care more affordable, more accessible to every American, no 
matter where they live. We need to put judges on the bench who 
interpret and not make the law. We need to keep our economy strong and 
growing. We need to tackle that rising cost of gasoline. Right now it 
is up, teetering at the $3 level. That is too much to be paying per 
gallon.
  Over the next 5 weeks, we are going to tackle each of these items. I 
call upon my colleagues on both sides to work together to get this done 
for the sake of our fellow citizens who have sent us here to work for 
them, to represent them.
  Unfortunately, before the Easter recess, obstruction from the other 
side got in the way of comprehensive border security and immigration 
reform. But as I have announced over the last couple of days, I intend 
to bring this issue back and to continue driving forward on this 
important issue to the American people. We need real border security. 
That includes a fence along certain parts of the border, surveillance 
along other parts of the border. But we have to get this border under 
control. We took very positive steps last year in increasing the number 
of border agents and the number of detention facilities, and both are 
very important in this supplemental bill over the next several days. We 
will once again address border security.
  We also need employer enforcement in a system that addresses the fact 
that we have 12 million to 20 million individuals who right now are 
kept in the shadows. Building on last year's efforts, spearheaded by 
the Senate, I will support an effort to put funds into the supplemental 
bill to make our next downpayment on securing the border.
  Hiring more Border Patrol agents and giving them the tools they need 
to get the job done doesn't need to wait until we finish the overall 
immigration bill. We can take important steps now and indeed we will. 
It is part of the challenge, the action, and the solutions the American 
people want; they want serious reform.
  Keeping America strong also means keeping America healthy. Insurance 
premiums have risen--health insurance premiums--73 percent over the 
last 5 years. It hits small businesses and their employees in 
particular. Of the 20 million Americans who are working and are 
uninsured, don't have health insurance, 49 percent are self-employed or 
work in firms with fewer than 25 employees. According to the Institutes 
of Medicine, nearly 18,000 Americans die prematurely each year due to 
lack of insurance. It is a fact. It has been proven again and again.
  If you have health insurance--even if you do not have comprehensive 
health insurance, but you have any health insurance, you do better in 
terms of health outcomes. Last month, the HELP Committee reported out a 
bill to allow small businesses to band together all over a community to 
reach out and gain that purchasing clout which we know in the 
marketplace can drive prices down. It can make those insurance policies 
less expensive and thus more accessible.
  The Enzi legislation, when fully phased in, would reduce employer 
premiums by 12 percent and the number of uninsured workers by at least 
a million. Voters are close to unanimous in their support for allowing 
self-employed workers and small business employees to band together to 
negotiate lower insurance costs as spelled out in that Enzi bill.
  Again, challenge, action, solutions. It is time to get it done.
  We have also known for some time that the medical malpractice system 
is broken. It is driving up costs, driving my doctor colleagues out of 
their professions, from practicing medicine and delivering care. Nearly 
half of America's counties today lack an obstetrician/gynecologist, and 
that is due in large part to excessive, skyrocketing medical 
malpractice premiums. Three out of four neurosurgeons will no longer 
operate on children. When you ask why, it is because of medical 
liability. And 79 percent of doctors practice defensive medicine for 
fear of getting sued. That means when somebody comes in and they have a 
headache, you get a whole barrage of unnecessary tests to protect 
yourself in the event there is a lawsuit. Health care costs have risen 
between $70 billion and $126 billion in defensive medicine costs.
  I was in Texas the other day. Texas is fascinating to me as a 
physician. They recently adopted liability reform measures. The largest 
malpractice insurer in the State immediately began lowering premiums, 
and premiums in that State are now down by 22 percent. Indeed, there is 
an influx of doctors from all over the country moving to Texas because 
of this very effective, proven to be effective, malpractice reform. An 
overwhelming majority of Americans support a Federal law to limit jury 
awards to compensate for pain and suffering in medical malpractice 
suits. Challenge, action, solutions. It is time to get this done.
  Keeping America strong means keeping our economy thriving. That is 
why we passed the Tax Relief Act of 2005. We know that tax cuts work. 
We know they grow the economy and help create jobs. In 2001, we passed 
$1.4 trillion in tax relief; 2 years later, another $350 billion. That 
is $1.7 trillion that goes into the pockets of everyday, hard-working 
Americans for them to save, to spend, to invest. We cut taxes on income 
and marriage. We doubled the child tax credit and slashed taxes on 
capital gains and dividends. Because we did, our economy has grown.
  Right now, each month we are creating about 200,000 new jobs. Over 
the last 32 months, we have created 5.1 million new jobs. Home 
ownership is up. Minority home ownership is up at all-time highs.
  Tax relief has led to 3 years of record economic growth. But we have 
a lot more to do. In the next 5 weeks, I intend to bring legislation to 
the floor to eliminate the death tax once and for all. The death tax is 
unfair, it is inefficient, and it taxes people for dying. It is double 
and triple taxation. The death tax drives hard-working people to spend 
billions of dollars on complicated tax structures for the sole purpose 
of avoiding death taxes on income that has already been taxed.
  Because of Katrina, we could not move forward on repealing the death 
tax last fall, but now is the time to bury that death tax once and for 
all. Keeping America strong, protecting the democratic process means 
protecting the separation of powers. We need judges who interpret the 
law and who don't make law from the bench.
  We have made substantial progress on judicial nominations. We put one 
Chief Justice, one Associate Justice, six previously filibustered 
circuit court nominees, 20 other circuit nominees, and 104 district 
court nominees on the bench since 2003. But we cannot rest on that 
progress.
  Terry Boyle is one example of a nominee who deserves our 
consideration. He was nominated for a circuit court judgeship back in 
1991 and then again in 2001. He has been waiting 15 years for a fair 
up-or-down vote.
  Another is Brett Kavanaugh, first nominated in July 2003. He has been 
waiting ever since that date. He, too, deserves a fair up-or-down vote.
  We need to keep up the momentum and keep driving forward so that each 
and every nominee gets a fair up-or-down vote on the floor of the 
Senate.
  The weather is warming up and we are approaching the summer driving 
season, and American families are being squeezed tighter and tighter by 
these skyrocketing gas prices. We need to help them find relief. We 
know there is no single magic bullet. We know it is an issue of supply 
and demand.
  As a first step, Speaker Hastert and I have asked the President to 
direct the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to 
investigate if price gouging or speculation in the oil markets is 
contributing to the current high prices.
  We need to get to the bottom of it, and if we do so, we may have 
legislative action required on the floor of the Senate, or we may not, 
but only an investigation, only an examination by the FTC and DOJ can 
give us that answer.
  We need to find short-term solutions. In the long term, however, the 
answer is to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. The fact that 
we are 60-percent dependent today on foreign sources of oil is simply 
inexcusable.
  During our majority over the last 12 years, Democratic obstruction 
and delay has stopped measures to enhance domestic production, and 
domestic production must be a part of any long-term solution for our 
energy supply.
  The President laid out a number of initiatives in his State of the 
Union

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Address, and I hope we can pursue them in committees and then bring 
them to the floor quickly. Again, challenge, action, solutions.
  Those are some of the things we need to be doing over the next 5 
weeks. There is a lot to do in a very short period of time, but I am 
convinced that with determination and focus and by leading on 
principle, we can and we must govern with meaningful solutions on the 
issues that matter, and they can be delivered to the American people. 
We can make America stronger, we can make America safer, and we can 
make it more secure. We must keep America moving forward.

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