[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 42 (Saturday, March 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H1762-H1767]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRICARE AFFIRMATION ACT

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 4887) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure that 
health coverage provided by the Department of Defense is treated as 
minimal essential coverage, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 4887

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``TRICARE Affirmation Act''.

     SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE HEALTH COVERAGE AS 
                   MINIMAL ESSENTIAL COVERAGE.

       (a) In General.--Section 5000A(f)(1)(A) of the Internal 
     Revenue Code of 1986, as added

[[Page H1763]]

     by section 1501(b) of the Patient Protection and Affordable 
     Care Act, is amended--
       (1) by striking clause (iv) and inserting the following new 
     clause:
       ``(iv) medical coverage under chapter 55 of title 10, 
     United States Code, including coverage under the TRICARE 
     program;'';
       (2) by striking ``or'' at the end of clause (v);
       (3) by striking the period at the end of clause (vi) and 
     inserting ``; or''; and
       (4) by inserting after clause (vi) the following new 
     clause:
       ``(vii) the Nonappropriated Fund Health Benefits Program of 
     the Department of Defense, established under section 349 of 
     the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995 
     (Public Law 103-337; 10 U.S.C. 1587 note).''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall take effect as if included in section 1501(b) of the 
     Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and shall be 
     executed immediately after the amendments made by such 
     section 1501(b).

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Levin) and the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LEVIN. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 
legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on H.R. 4887.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.

                              {time}  1315

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, under H.R. 3590, as passed by the Senate, 
individuals are responsible for obtaining minimum essential health care 
or pay a small penalty. The Senate bill states that anyone with 
eligible employer coverage meets this requirement. The coverage that is 
provided today for the members of our armed services and their families 
and for military retirees and their families satisfies this 
requirement. In an abundance of caution, H.R. 4887 was introduced by 
our distinguished chairman, Mr. Skelton, to reaffirm this result.
  I now reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, today the House is considering 
H.R. 4887, the TRICARE Affirmation Act. While I support the bill we 
have before us, I'm disappointed in another display of rushing the 
process. Speaker Pelosi said that we need to pass the health care bill 
so we can find out what's in it. This is, fortunately, one that was 
found before it was passed. Think of how many other hundreds and 
hundreds of possible errors there may be in that bill because of being 
forced through quickly and being ill considered.
  Moreover, as a former member of the 82nd Airborne Division, I'm 
deeply disappointed that we had to leave out veterans. Those who have 
served our country would actually become victims of a policy that the 
Congress is enacting--inadvertently and not by any malice aforethought. 
And I certainly thank and share my greatest appreciation with the 
distinguished chairman, Mr. Skelton, of the Armed Services Committee, 
who I served with for several years, for catching this and correcting 
this wrong.
  The bill wasn't added to the schedule until close to midnight last 
night. Beyond the immediate process issues, the addition of this bill 
to the calendar points to a troubled future if the Senate health care 
bill passes the House tomorrow. We're many votes away from health care 
reform becoming law, but already, as I mentioned, we're seeing 
fundamental flaws in this Senate bill that require amendment.
  As we all know, the health care bill that we'll consider tomorrow 
contains a new requirement that every single American in this country 
enroll in a health care plan that the government approves. President 
Obama said that if you like your doctor, you can keep him--if he 
approves. Now we have the IRS and we have Federal agencies that are 
going to get into our private affairs, and now it's affecting our 
veterans. If an individual does not have this coverage, they will be 
subject to a penalty and even the possibility of prosecution through 
the IRS.
  H.R. 4887 essentially amends the not-yet-passed Senate health care 
bill to clarify that all TRICARE plans are considered as minimal 
acceptable coverage under the bill. It is the least that we can do for 
our veterans. Defining TRICARE as such is important because it exempts 
its enrollees from the individual mandate in the Senate bill.
  As most know, TRICARE is a complete medical care benefit program for 
active duty members and retirees of all seven uniformed services and 
their dependents. TRICARE is currently open to about 9.3 million 
potential beneficiaries. Active duty military, their spouses, and 
dependents are automatically enrolled in TRICARE Prime. Retirees can 
choose between TRICARE Prime or two other options. Then there is a 
fourth subset called TRICARE for Life. These beneficiaries are enrolled 
in Medicare, but TRICARE serves as a secondary payer.
  Unfortunately, in the Senate health care bill, Democrats do not deem 
TRICARE programs for servicemembers and military retirees under age 65 
to provide minimum acceptable coverage. H.R. 4887 would clarify these 
programs and make sure that they're included in this definition.
  It's surprising to me that these programs were left out originally. 
This is an important change to make, but I think this is only a 
foreshadowing of what is to come for hardworking Americans.
  The Senate health care reform bill has not even been signed into law 
and we already have to fix it. If Democrats were originally willing to 
adversely impact the health care coverage of these Americans who have 
honorably served our country, you have to wonder whose health care is 
safe.
  These oversights occurred because this process is too big, too fast, 
and being done against the will of the American people. I support this 
amendment. It's critical that we protect our military families.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEVIN. It's now my privilege to yield 2 minutes to someone who 
has worked so hard for so many years on behalf of the veterans of this 
country, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton).
  Mr. SKELTON. I certainly thank the gentleman from Michigan.
  Mr. Speaker, it's a commonly known fact that I oppose the health care 
reform bill as it exists currently and will vote against it tomorrow, 
but my duty as the chairman of the Armed Services Committee compels me 
to ensure that the health care of our brave service men and women, our 
military retirees, and all of their family members are protected if the 
bill does indeed pass.
  In the health care bill currently under consideration in Congress, 
which originated in the Senate, TRICARE and the Non-Appropriated Fund 
health plans, the programs that provide health care for these 
individuals, will meet the minimum requirements for individual health 
insurance coverage, and no TRICARE or NAF health plan beneficiary will 
be required to purchase additional coverage beyond what they already 
have. However, to reassure our military servicemembers and their 
families and make it perfectly clear that they will not be negatively 
affected by this legislation, my bill, H.R. 4887, explicitly states in 
law that these health plans meet the minimum requirements for 
individual health insurance.
  Our brave men and women in uniform provide us with first-class 
protection. It's our obligation to provide them and their families with 
first-class health care in return. Every day, our troops risk their 
lives to stand up for us on the battlefield, and now I ask my 
colleagues, no matter what the position you may have on health care 
reform itself, to join me in standing up for our servicemembers and 
their families.
  Nobody knows what the fate of health care will be tomorrow, but by 
supporting this bill that's before us right now, H.R. 4887, we will at 
least know that we have protected those men and women who sacrifice 
their lives to protect us. We must affirm for our military 
servicemembers and their families that even if the health reform bill 
passes, the coverage provided by TRICARE and the Non-Appropriated Fund 
health plans will be properly defined in law as meeting the minimum 
requirements for individual health insurance.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I now yield 4 minutes to the distinguished 
ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McKeon).

[[Page H1764]]

  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I 
rise in support of H.R. 4887, which would try to fix a significant flaw 
in the Democratic health care reform bill by including the Department 
of Defense TRICARE program in what is considered minimum essential 
coverage for the purposes of the individual mandate in the health care 
bill.
  Mr. Speaker, while I applaud Chairman Skelton for taking this step, 
I'm deeply concerned and aware that it does not go far enough to 
protect TRICARE from the ravages of ObamaCare. The simple truth is that 
the Senate health care bill still leaves TRICARE, the world-class 
health care program that takes care of 9.2 million of our men and women 
in uniform and their families and retirees and their families open to 
the whim of bureaucrats outside of the Department of Defense who may 
change the program as they see fit. Is this what we want for the men 
and women who lay their lives on the line every day to protect this 
great Nation?
  Last summer, the White House made two promises to America's Armed 
Forces and their families:
  One, that the health reform legislation that's being considered would 
enable those who are covered by TRICARE to meet the shared 
responsibility requirement for individuals to have insurance, thereby 
exempting such members of the armed services and their families from 
being assessed penalties. This is the explicit promise that the Senate 
health care bill fails to meet. The chairman's resolution is an attempt 
to meet that commitment, but what it definitely does is point out the 
flaws in the Senate health care bill.
  The second promise the President made is that the Secretary of 
Defense would continue to maintain sole authority over TRICARE. 
Chairman Skelton's language today does not address this promise. That 
is why Mr. Buyer, the ranking member on the Veterans' Affairs 
Committee, and I filed and will offer later today language at the Rules 
Committee that would meet both of these promises.
  We've been hearing since last summer many promises that this problem 
would be fixed. Mr. Buyer and I even offered similar amendments to the 
House version of the bill passed last fall. Our attempts were rebuffed 
and the military service organizations were given assurances by the 
Democratic leadership that TRICARE would be protected in a conference 
report that never came.
  Now we see this legislation that appeared in the dark of night. We've 
been told that there's no cost associated with this legislation. We 
cannot confirm that. History is rife with examples of House legislation 
that does not survive in the Senate. In other words, there's no 
guarantee that what the President finally signs will protect Medicare.
  Mr. Speaker, I was told by a veteran that one of the problems we had 
in the Vietnam War was pilots became so fixated on the target that they 
ultimately crashed into the target. That's what I see happening with 
this health care bill that the Democratic leadership and the President 
are pushing. They're so fixated on getting something passed that 
they're making so many mistakes that we're not going to be able to fix 
them all. I will support my chairman's efforts today, but I will 
continue to work toward a comprehensive fix.
  Mr. LEVIN. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New Hampshire 
(Ms. Shea-Porter).
  Ms. SHEA-PORTER. I thank the chairman for his legislation. As a 
member of the Armed Services Committee, I'm proud to be an original 
cosponsor.
  Mr. Speaker, we have a solemn responsibility to provide our 
servicemembers with the care and the services that they are due. They 
risk their lives in service to our Nation, and it's imperative that we 
keep our promises to them.
  This is not a Democratic or Republican responsibility, and as an 
advocate for the members of our military and their families--and I 
might add, as a former military spouse myself--it's troubling for me 
that throughout the debate on health care reform that TRICARE would be 
included as one of the topics of the various misinformation campaigns. 
This bill will ensure that those members of our armed services can keep 
their TRICARE coverage.
  I'm proud to have stood in support of our servicemembers in the Armed 
Services Committee, preventing increases in TRICARE copays, for 
example. I'm pleased that the chairman, through this legislation, has 
given us all the opportunity to reaffirm not only the importance of 
TRICARE, but that, under our health reform legislation, these benefits 
will remain as they are.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Now, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to yield such time 
as he may consume to the distinguished ranking member of the Veterans' 
Affairs Committee, a veteran of Desert Storm and a retired United 
States Army Colonel, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Buyer).
  Mr. BUYER. Let me ask how much time the minority has.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. There are 13 minutes remaining.
  Mr. BUYER. First of all, I'd like to applaud Buck McKeon and Ike 
Skelton for their efforts, along with Mr. Levin, to permit this bill to 
be considered, but we haven't gone far enough. Now, it's kind of what 
happens when we rush or go too fast around here. We get sloppy in our 
drafting.
  Now, in the bill that was passed here in the House, there were 
general authority provisions under the Secretaries of DOD and VA to 
ensure that those health systems would be protected--the authorities, 
their general provision authorities to the Secretaries would be 
protected. That language was not in the Senate bill.
  The Senate bill, which is now coming over here, interestingly enough, 
to--which is about to be deemed. Pretty interesting. I don't know if 
you know about the word ``deem.'' It comes from the old English origin 
to ``dom,'' and to ``dom'' was from judges. It means to make judgment. 
In the 17th century, judges actually then began to make rapid 
judgments, and they called them ``deemers.'' The origin of to dom--
there are two words: to deem and to doom. Pretty fascinating.
  So, right now, the language that was going to be deemed, the bill 
under consideration, will, in fact, cover the TRICARE, because right 
now it covers just TRICARE for Life.

                              {time}  1330

  There's about $30 billion a year for TRICARE for those who are active 
duty, or guardsmen, or reservists who are brought to active duty to 
include their dependents. And with this $30 billion price tag, that's a 
lot of money. Over 10 years, that's around $300 billion. I don't know 
how we can exclude them, but we're going to bring them in.
  What I'm about to ask of Mr. Levin is, we also have this commitment, 
this commitment from the leadership, from the Speaker, from the leaders 
of the dominant committees of Ed and Labor, and Ways and Means, the 
Appropriations, and Energy and Commerce to protect the veterans 
programs. Now in that language that's coming from the Senate to here 
for which we're not going to get to vote on nor amend, it says that we 
will take care of the chapter 17 veterans programs. Veterans programs.
  But this chapter 17, there are other programs to survivors and 
dependents which would not be covered. So their programs which 
presently exist would not be under the minimum essential. Who are they? 
That would be the widows, the survivors, and the orphaned children, to 
include, for example, an agent orange Vietnam veteran whose child or 
adult dependent has spina bifida would not be covered.


                        Parliamentary Inquiries

  Mr. BUYER. I have a parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Indiana will state his 
inquiry.
  Mr. BUYER. My parliamentary inquiry would be this: The bill that is 
under suspension was dropped last night. We had to immediately respond 
to all of this, and I have dropped a bill just in the last hour. I 
apologize to my Democrat friends. I know you're just getting a chance 
to look at this.
  My parliamentary inquiry is, how would I be able to ask for an 
immediate consideration of this bill under a suspension?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is the gentleman speaking to a separate 
measure other than the one that is before the House?
  Mr. BUYER. That's correct. Yes, as a separate measure. How can I call 
this bill to an immediate consideration?

[[Page H1765]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Speaker's policy for recognition 
requires clearance with leadership on both sides before entertaining 
such a request.
  Mr. BUYER. At the conclusion of this bill, could I ask for unanimous 
consent for immediate consideration of this bill to protect the 
survivors and orphans of our veterans?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair is constrained to recognize for 
such a request only if both leaderships have cleared it.
  Mr. BUYER. Further parliamentary inquiry. Does that mean that at the 
conclusion of this vote that the Chair would not recognize me for a 
unanimous consent request?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is correct.
  Mr. BUYER. So the U.C. would not be in order.
  Mr. LEVIN. Would the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BUYER. I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. LEVIN. Let me suggest this: The provision that is in question 
here or is before us doesn't take effect--the overall provision--until 
2014. What our purpose is here today is not to correct a flaw but to 
reaffirm so there could be zero questions. I would suggest this: That 
we proceed--and I want to assure you, I think I can on behalf of 
everyone concerned--that we will look at your bill, and we will work 
with you, and if there's agreement, we will proceed expeditiously. So I 
would hope that would work for you. I just wanted to assure you of our 
good will on this. And if there is an issue that has to be considered, 
we'll do that.
  The problem right now is, it's impossible--we just received this--to 
understand whether or not it might have an impact in terms of the 
overall bill. The overall bill has to be scored. As you know, Mr. 
Buyer, it's very technical. So again, let me suggest that we proceed 
and give you the assurance that we will look at this and proceed 
expeditiously.
  Mr. BUYER. Reclaiming my time on the parliamentary inquiry, would it 
be made in order under a unanimous consent request on a suspension that 
the gentleman could amend? In other words, could I offer a unanimous 
consent request to amend to include the general authority language that 
is very similar to which the House had already passed previously under 
the health bill?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The proponent would be allowed to withdraw, 
amend, and re-offer.
  Mr. BUYER. So the gentleman--I accept your good faith. You could 
withdraw this bill. We are moving quickly, and you're correct that it 
is highly technical. We only got to see this bill a few days ago. So 
Mr. Skelton and Mr. McKeon, all of their staffs didn't get to fully 
cover it. It's immediately dropped at midnight. We immediately bring it 
to the floor. We then have to react.
  Further parliamentary inquiry. As gentlemen, why don't we pause under 
the rules? We can withdraw the suspension. We can work, and then the 
gentleman can bring it back, in good faith. I would ask of the 
gentleman under the comity of the House----
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will look to the majority manager 
for any change in plans.
  Mr. BUYER. All right. I would ask of the gentleman, would the 
gentleman consider to withdraw the suspension to allow us to include 
the general authority provisions and correct the errors in the bill?
  Mr. LEVIN. Let me suggest the reason why I think we need to proceed 
with this bill. We can accomplish what you want to accomplish by taking 
up your bill separately. The purpose of this bill is not to correct a 
flaw. The purpose of it simply is to reaffirm what should already be 
clear. I don't think in this period of time that we could look at your 
bill and be sure that it would have no impact in terms of the overall 
legislation.
  I know that this bill will have no such effect. I'm not sure of yours 
because we've just received it. So let me just offer again in the best 
of good faith that we will take a note that the----


                Announcement by the Speaker pro tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will note that the colloquy is on 
the time of the gentleman from Indiana.
  Mr. BUYER. All right. I'm going to reclaim my time. The gentleman's 
position is that you have chosen not to withdraw the bill to correct 
the errors, but you want to proceed.
  Mr. LEVIN. I don't think it's a question of correcting an error.
  Mr. BUYER. Let me reclaim my time, because we have a really large 
distinction here. Because the bill that is about to be deemed--we don't 
even have the right to vote on it. See, this is what's blowing my mind, 
Mr. Levin. Those of us who have actually worn the uniform, we don't 
fight for any bounty of our own. We fight for liberty, we fight for 
freedom, the right to speak, the right to vote. And then we're going to 
be denied the right to vote on a Senate bill, and nor do we have the 
opportunity to amend? And to say that there are not errors when we move 
this fast, we don't even allow the deliberative process to be used. I'm 
pleading with you, Mr. Levin. I'm pleading with you. The bill that's 
before us only covers TRICARE for life. I know this.


                Announcement by the Speaker pro tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will be reminded to address 
the Chair.
  Mr. BUYER. Mr. Speaker, I apologize. Mr. Levin, I apologize. I 
drafted TRICARE for Life. I understand this program. This bill only 
covers TRICARE for Life. So individuals who are enrolled in TRICARE--
it's not considered a minimum essential health program.
  Now I know you didn't mean to do that. So let's get that corrected. 
That's why you're going to do this bill. So then why don't we 
absolutely make sure we correct chapter 17 to then protect survivors 
and dependents? It's an error. I'm not going to stand here and say you 
intentionally meant to leave out widows and orphans. I don't believe 
that. But if you're going to correct it on TRICARE, let's take care of 
the veterans too. I would just plead for the gentleman to stop and 
pause while we're in consideration here. Let's amend this, and let's do 
it right. That's my plea.
  I will also let you know that we do things substantively. We also do 
things politically. Ha. There's a response. Letters are coming in, and 
emails are coming in right now from all the VSOs, and the Veterans 
Service Organizations are pretty upset. Pretty upset. Whenever we move 
fast, we're sloppy, and people get hurt in the process. This is not one 
of our finest hours.


                Announcement by the Speaker pro tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address the Chair 
and not other Members in the second person.
  The Chair will also remind all persons in the gallery that they are 
here as guests of the House, and that any manifestation of approval or 
disapproval of proceedings or other audible conversations is in 
violation of the Rules of the House.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEVIN. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. 
Davis).
  Mrs. DAVIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I support the health reform 
bill that this body will consider tomorrow, yet section 1501 of the 
Senate bill needs to be modified to ensure that the insurance our brave 
men and women in uniform have qualifies as ``minimum essential 
coverage'' under the new law. I already believe that TRICARE and the 
nonappropriated fund health plans will meet the minimum requirements 
for individual health insurance coverage in the health care bill. Yet 
like Mr. Skelton, I believe this legislation should explicitly state 
that these health plans meet the minimum threshold.
  As chairwoman of the Military Personnel Subcommittee, I am a strong 
proponent of the TRICARE system and do not want that great benefit 
threatened in any way by health care reform in the United States. 
Fixing section 1501 of the Senate bill will help achieve this goal and 
will remove any ambiguity for men and women in uniform and for my 
colleagues who do not believe that the current bill goes far enough to 
protect those who serve.
  Mr. Speaker, this language to protect TRICARE originally passed the 
House Education and Labor Committee on a bipartisan basis. I remember 
it. I was there. I would ask my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle to put aside politics for this one vote and help pass

[[Page H1766]]

a measure that will allow our men and women in uniform to focus on 
their mission, not their health insurance. I urge a ``yes'' vote on 
this measure.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time 
is remaining on our side?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Kentucky has 8 minutes 
remaining, and the gentleman from Michigan has 14\1/2\ minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now I would like to 
yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns), an Air 
Force veteran and another distinguished member of the Veterans 
Committee.
  Mr. STEARNS. I thank the distinguished chairman. The bottom line--
this is the bottom line--the Senate language in the health care bill 
does not protect VA and Department of Defense health care systems from 
interference by other Federal agencies, such as Health and Human 
Services. We need to have the Buyer-McKeon bill part of this package, 
or you're going to leave out a whole segment of veterans who are under 
TRICARE, not to mention survivors and dependents who are covered under 
the CHAMPVA.
  This is extremely important to American veterans, so I urge you, 
Democrats who are in the majority, to reconsider Mr. Buyer's simple 
request to make part of your bill today, immediately, as much as 
possible, to amend it so that we include the Buyer language which is 
H.R. 4894. It's not a major thing to do here. We can do that.
  Mr. Skelton here earlier said that he's against the health care bill. 
He emphatically said he's going to vote ``no.'' I understand that. He 
feels that the Democrat health care bill is not something he can 
support. He's chairman of the Armed Services Committee. He understands 
that passage of this rule that we're going to talk about later will 
deem passage of the entire health care bill in America. But then here 
we are, trying in desperation because this is a farce, this health care 
bill, because it strips TRICARE from the military veterans. It hurts 
survivors and dependents.
  Now in a charade here of a farce, they're trying to amend a bill that 
has never passed. Think of that. This bill that we're going to vote on, 
the Skelton bill, is amending a bill that has not even passed. So I 
even question the constitutionality and the procedures here. The health 
care bill is not going to protect Department of Defense military people 
under TRICARE and veterans.
  Now why is this occurring? I think we realize it is because the 
Democrats moved too quickly, and they're penalizing our veterans. So 
the chairman of the Armed Services Committee is against it. More 
importantly, he's here with this bill, and I think all of us should 
understand that without passage of the Buyer-McKeon bill, which is H.R. 
4894--the bill has been dropped--to amend the patient protection and 
affordable care to ensure appropriate treatment of Department of 
Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense health programs--this is a 
simple statement, but it has huge implications.
  So Mr. Levin, I urge you to reconsider and to make sure that part of 
this McKeon bill has the language of the Buyer-McKeon. Again, I will 
just close by saying that the reason why we're here today is because 
the bill was put together improperly, and it's just an affront to our 
veterans, to our military retirees that they are going to be affected 
by this health care bill.


                Announcement by the Speaker pro tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are once again reminded to address 
the Chair and not others in the second person.

                              {time}  1345

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the 
distinguished gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Buyer).
  Mr. BUYER. Mr. Speaker, in consultation with the chairman of the Ways 
and Means Committee, a gentleman that I respect, I think the best 
approach is we will vote on your bill and ask the minority leader, and 
approach the majority leader and the Speaker, and you can do your due 
diligence on the policy aspects to make sure that things can get 
corrected and then maybe we can call for immediate consideration of the 
Buyer-McKeon bill. I think that is a good approach.
  I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. LEVIN. I agree.


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will once again remind Members to 
speak through the Chair and not in the second person.
  Mr. LEVIN. I reserve the balance of my time. Do I have the right to 
close?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Yes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. As we revisit this event, we are correcting an 
egregious wrong that was done by oversight to not fully cover our 
veterans and those on active duty and their families. The fact that 
TRICARE would not fall into the so-called minimally accepted coverage 
leads me back to the false standard that was set in the beginning on 
this bill in the first place.
  I was, among other things in the military, an assault helicopter 
pilot. One of the things that we learned as young aviators is that 
accidents normally didn't happen because of one big thing. Normally an 
accident would happen, and several of my close friends paid the 
ultimate price in this, was because several little things would begin 
to pile up, small events, things unseen. The faster the environment 
began to process, the more they would pile up, and eventually they 
became uncontrollable. Not noticing power, not noticing air speed, not 
noticing their rate of descent, their altitude, their visual 
references, lots of things can come into play.
  The bottom line is we are doing the same thing now, except we are 
doing it with one of the largest and most sweeping bills in the history 
of this country. We are rushing headlong without even a week; 72 hours 
for a bill this big, give me a break. Let's think about the reality of 
what we are doing, rushing headlong to do the largest transfer of power 
to the executive branch in the history of the United States.
  This is about turning us into a different Nation. This is about 
stepping beyond article I of the Constitution to deem. To deem what? We 
are fixing a small mistake. I guarantee you, there are hundreds of 
others. Deeming actually is pronouncing something that isn't as if it 
were done, for all practical purposes, and it was designed from a 
legislative perspective for simple corrections. Let us deem everybody 
good health; that has about the same effect in the eyes of the American 
people. If we are dealing with veterans, let us deem world peace so 
there won't be any more risks internationally.
  You see the absurdity of this argument presented over and over and 
over. And for the thousands of Americans outside this building, while 
we stand in here trying to work together to fix a small piece, there 
are hundreds and hundreds of other things piling up.
  Remember what the Speaker said: the Speaker said we have to pass this 
bill so we can find out what's in it. In the name of heaven, shouldn't 
we know what is in it before it even comes to this floor for a vote? I 
demand to know the justice in that, in ramming a piece of legislation 
through here that is going to change the lives of our children and our 
grandchildren.
  You ask the people dying in hospitals in England, you ask the people 
who wait 18 months for bypass surgery, you ask the veterans who are yet 
to come forward who will not have health care because of this on some 
technical fix. We are hiring over 100,000 new government bureaucrats 
and not making the changes the rest of the country uses. And every time 
in the Ways and Means Committee we tried to offer those changes, they 
were rejected. Think about this for a moment.
  I don't want the most important thing that we are handling in this 
administration to become a train wreck waiting to happen when we see 
all of the events beginning to pile up. We need to slow the overall 
bill down. The fact that we would have to do this, the fact that there 
are thousands of people demonstrating tells us that there is more to 
this than simply giving people health care.
  I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Stearns).
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, there is something else that is going on 
here, too. Okay, so the Skelton bill passes without the Buyer-McKeon. 
Okay, then the health care bill comes tomorrow. We vote on it tomorrow 
night, and it

[[Page H1767]]

passes. But still, the veterans will still be without care because this 
bill that is passing here has to go to the Senate. The Senate could 
make some changes and then it comes back to the House. So you will have 
a health care bill out there standing by itself that has passed, gone 
to the President, signed into law that does not protect veterans on 
TRICARE. You should be very concerned about that, and I think the 
American people should be concerned that our veterans, who are in two 
wars today, are not going to be protected because you are delaying the 
enforcement of the rigorous understanding of what this bill is about.
  So just simply passing this today under suspension will not mean that 
the veterans are protected. It still has to go to the Senate and comes 
back to the House before it is signed by the President.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I will go ahead and close with 
these final remarks.
  Next year will be the 30th anniversary of my graduation from the 
United States Military Academy. When I am back there seeing these men 
and women who have served this country in so many distinguished ways, 
through times of peace and war and turbulence, the one thing that I 
want to be able to look in their eyes and say that we did as a 
Congress, not simply me, is that we served their needs, their family 
needs, the needs of their soldiers, the needs of veterans in general.
  And it is clear from the overall legislation that we are seeking to 
amend before it even becomes law, although I think that is 
constitutionally in question if we are not actually going to vote on 
the Senate bill, we need to slow this process down and stop the Senate 
bill from being forced through this House, this reconciliation process, 
and go back to square one and do this step by step and get it right the 
first time rather than having to make corrections.
  I thank the chairman of the Armed Services Committee and the chairman 
of the Ways and Means Committee for bringing this critical fix forward. 
There are many more. Let us get to those.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  I want to make two points clearly and very forcefully: veterans and 
veterans' health are protected and will be protected. We are glad to 
bring our record before the world where this party that I belong to has 
been in terms of protecting veterans and veterans' health. I just want 
to say a word about that because I have been here now for some years; 
and a few years ago the party that I belong to, when we had the power, 
took the steps to make sure that the health of veterans was protected, 
indeed, enhanced. What we did was to pass billions of dollars' worth in 
programs to make sure that veterans in this country were protected as 
to their health care needs. That is absolutely clear. No veterans need 
to be worried about their health care. No one covered by TRICARE needs 
to be worried about whether that will be in effect. No one.
  This is done simply to reassure in terms of the language. It is not 
to fix a flaw. It is to reassure. Indeed, it is being brought for the 
very reason that we feared that some people might decide to misstate 
what the reality was. The reality is that we are simply reassuring. 
There is no flaw to fix, period.
  So no one in any place, any veteran or anybody and their family needs 
to worry about our dedication or the impact of this legislation. That 
is point one.
  Number two, I think what is being done here, what is being said here 
is pretty clear. The argument isn't really over veterans' health. We 
are all dedicated to sustaining that. It isn't over TRICARE. We are 
dedicated to improving TRICARE wherever possible. What we hear on the 
other side instead are speeches and words about the reconciliation 
bill. You don't like it.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Would the gentleman yield?
  Mr. LEVIN. I am not sure that I want to carry on much longer a debate 
over the health care bill, but sure.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I would point out that TRICARE for life was 
excised from the Senate bill.
  Mr. LEVIN. Look, the Senate bill, we wanted to be 100 percent sure 
that nobody would misstate its impact. So don't misstate it. That's the 
purpose of this.
  Instead, after you talk about veterans' health, you begin to talk 
about the reconciliation bill. Now we will debate that tomorrow, but we 
should not use any question about coverage for veterans as a reason to 
attack the reconciliation bill. I support it. I think it will have a 
major positive impact. You used all kinds of words about a different 
Nation, about rushing headlong. That has nothing to do with this bill. 
I think you are completely wrong about this being a different Nation. 
You raised it, so I will say a few words.
  What this is going to do is continue the path of this Nation, to make 
sure that health care can be afforded, to make sure that health care is 
spread to everybody. It is not a different Nation; it is continuing the 
best in our Nation. And so we are not rushing headlong. We have been 
talking about health care for a century in this country. I said at the 
Rules Committee, my first political experience as I remember it was as 
a kid passing out leaflets for the dad of John Dingell. His father had 
introduced a health care bill how many decades ago, and before him, 
others. Going back to Teddy Roosevelt, no huge radical.
  So now decades later we come to a moment when we can step up to the 
plate, and you call it a different Nation. No, I say it is in the best 
traditions of the United States of America. And so this is simply a 
bill to reassure; don't use it as an opportunity to talk about 
something else. We want to say clearly to the veterans of this country 
and to the families of those veterans, to everybody who is part of that 
family, that their health care is going to be protected. That is the 
purpose of this legislation.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 4887, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

                          ____________________