[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 121 (Thursday, July 26, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10054-S10055]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 UNANIMOUS-CONSENT AGREEMENT--H.R. 2638

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I will just take a minute and then the 
Senator from Texas can speak. I told the Senator from South Carolina 
that I was going to make a unanimous-consent request.
  I say to my friend from Texas, what a difference a night makes. As 
you know--as some know, not very many--Senator Cornyn and I, Senator 
Graham, and a few others were trying to work something out on border 
security, and Senator Cornyn and I were the last two to speak on this 
issue. Like a lot of things around here, if you don't get your way, you 
kind of throw a tantrum a lot of times. I didn't get my way, so I 
thought I would throw just a little tantrum.
  The evening has brought to my attention that I was wrong. Senator 
Cornyn was right. I hate to acknowledge that, but that is basically 
valid. Having said that, Mr. President, and swallowing a little bit of 
pride, which I shouldn't have had, I now ask unanimous consent that 
when the Senate resumes consideration of H.R. 2638 today--which will be 
in just a few minutes--the time until 11:35 a.m. be for debate with 
respect to the Graham-Pryor border security amendment--and that has the 
language of the Senator from Texas in it--I would interrupt and say 
that I have spoken to the distinguished Republican manager and told him 
I was going to offer this consent agreement--with the time divided as 
follows: 30 minutes under the control of Senator Voinovich and the 
remaining time equally divided and controlled between Senators Graham 
and Pryor or their designees; that no amendments be in order to the 
amendment prior to the vote; that upon yielding back of time, the 
Senate proceed to vote on the amendment, with no further intervening 
action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. COCHRAN. Reserving the right to object, and I do not intend to 
object, I want to be sure that there is consent on this side among 
those who are engaged in the debate, specifically the Senator from 
Texas and the Senator from South Carolina, so that they understand the 
proposed order and have no objections to it.
  Mr. REID. Is our consent granted, Mr. President?
  Mr. COCHRAN. We are getting his reaction to it.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I have no objection, and I appreciate the 
generous remarks of the majority leader and his willingness to work 
with Senator Graham and me on this important issue.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas is recognized.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that out of our 
allotted morning business time I be granted 5 more minutes, and then I 
will turn the floor over to my other colleagues who wish to speak.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CORNYN. I appreciate that, Mr. President.
  Mr. President, one of the concerns I think many people have about the 
dramatic expansion proposed by the Senate Finance Committee's adding an 
additional $35 billion on top of the existing $25 billion commitment 
for State

[[Page S10055]]

health insurance plans in the SCHIP program is that it bears remarkable 
resemblance to a plan originally proposed by the health care task force 
of President Clinton, and particularly the one that has come to be 
known--and I don't know whether she takes pride in this title or is 
offended by it, and I certainly don't mean any offense, but sometimes 
known as Hillary Care.
  This was a plan, as we will all recall, that grew out of a task force 
chaired by the then-First Lady which I think states very clearly its 
goal to start the role of Federal control of health coverage with kids 
first, or children, and then to add employer groups, individuals, and 
then Medicaid recipients. So that instead of the current 50 percent of 
health care in America today paid for by the Federal taxpayer and the 
Federal Government, it would grow to 100 percent, which would simply 
preclude any private marketplace and the individual choice that goes 
along with it for individuals.
  Mr. President, just so you don't take my word for it and that it is 
made clear, I will offer from that task force report page 22, and I ask 
unanimous consent that it be printed in the record following my 
remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (See exhibit 1.)
  Mr. CORNYN. Clearly, in this document, you will see that it does say 
that this proposal phases in universal coverage starting with Kids 
First. It says Kids First is really a precursor to the new system, and 
then other populations it proposes to phase in are employer groups, 
individuals, Medicaid recipients, and the like.
  So I think that is what a lot of us are concerned about. And perhaps 
Senator Clinton, now that she is a Member of this body, will talk to us 
a little bit about it and what her intentions are, what the intentions 
of the proponents are of the Finance Committee bill because there are 
some very serious concerns.
  I will yield in a moment to the Senator from South Carolina, who has 
been so active in this area, but I think, as he will explain, there are 
a lot of us who would like to see not just additional money being 
provided for children's health insurance but that literally we make as 
our goal to provide each and every American access to their own health 
insurance, along with the individual choice and the freedom and the 
portability that will provide.
  I know the Senator from South Carolina has done an awful lot of work 
on it--I have learned a lot from him in this area--and I think it is an 
important time to start this critical debate, and not just stop with 
the expansion of the SCHIP program, but to seek as our goal to provide 
each and every individual access to health care coverage of their own 
choosing.
  Mr. President, I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.

                               Exhibit 1


                     Option 3: Kids First Coverage

       Implementation Start: January 1, 1995.
       Phase-in: By Population, Beginning with Children.
       Universal Coverage Achieved by: January 1, 2000.


                                Summary

       This proposal phases in universal coverage, minimizes the 
     financial burden of the program at the outset, and covers the 
     most vulnerable of our citizens--children--as quickly as 
     possible. Under this approach, health care reform is phased 
     in by population, beginning with children. Other populations 
     are phased in as follows: Employer Groups: July, 1997; 
     Individuals: January, 1998; Medicaid: January, 2000.
       States may be granted a grace period under certain 
     circumstances.
       This proposal is designed in two parts which will be 
     implemented simultaneously:
       I. The quick coverage of children--``Kids First''; and,
       II. the development of structures for transitioning to the 
     new system and the phasing in of certain population groups.
       Part I, Kids First is really a precursor to the new system. 
     It is intended to be freestanding and administratively 
     simple, with States given broad flexibility in its design so 
     that it can be easily folded into existing/future program 
     structures. The Federal government, States, and the private 
     sector will play a role in its implementation and financing.
       Part II of this proposal involves the development of 
     purchasing cooperative (PC) structures and the actual phase-
     in of all other population groups within the PC system.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Texas for helping 
to start a very important national discussion about how we get every 
American insured. We can see in Washington, as we expand government 
health care, as we continue to expand unfunded liabilities into the 
future, and we add administrative costs, we are not covering people who 
need to be covered still.
  When we look at our Tax Code and realize that there has been a lot of 
inequity there, that we are helping some buy health insurance but only 
if they work for the right employer, we need to look at being fair with 
our Tax Code and developing a policy that will help every American have 
a health policy they can own and afford and keep. We will be talking a 
lot more about health care later.

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