[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 83 (Thursday, June 9, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3669-S3670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                MEDICARE

  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I wish to speak briefly today about 
Medicare, about the law, and specifically a law that Congress passed in 
2003 which provided for something called the Medicare trigger. This 
provided that when the Medicare trustees would indicate that a Medicare 
funding warning should issue according to that law, then the President 
of the United States under that law must, within 15 days, submit to 
Congress proposed legislation to respond to that warning.
  What does all this mean? We know the Medicare trustees made the 
situation clear that Medicare will run out of money by the year 2024. 
Medicare's unfunded liabilities are more than $24 trillion and growing. 
In other words, there is a $24 trillion gap between the promises the 
U.S. Government has made to seniors and the funding to pay for it. Of 
course, as the Chief Actuary stated, this is actually an optimistic 
scenario, that we can fund Medicare through 2024.
  The President of the United States has failed to comply with this law 
duly passed by Congress and signed into law. I do not really know why 
the President has failed to meet this legal responsibility of the law. 
I hope it is an oversight, and I hope it is one he will correct 
shortly. Having no plan while the President has criticized the House 
for the plan they passed is bad enough, but failing to submit a plan 
when the President of the United States is required to do so by law is 
a violation of the law, something the President has taken an oath to 
uphold.
  There is no doubt about it, section 802 entitled ``Presidential 
Submission of Legislation'' uses the word ``shall.'' It is not ``may,'' 
it is not ``can,'' and it is not ``it would be a good idea.'' It says 
the President shall submit to Congress, within a 15-day period 
beginning on the day the budget submission to Congress is made, 
proposed legislation responding to this Medicare funding warning. March 
1 marked the day 15 since the President submitted his budget, and the 
Medicare trustees, as we all know, have been ringing the alarm bell for 
years. But, unfortunately, this is not the only provision of the law 
the President has neglected.
  We could talk about the Greek debt crisis. On Tuesday, the President 
talked about the Greek debt crisis in a joint press conference with 
Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany. This is what the President 
said about the Greek debt crisis:

       We have pledged to cooperate fully in working through these 
     issues on a bilateral basis but also through international 
     and financial institutions like the International Monetary 
     Fund.

  Obviously, Greece has suffered a debt crisis. They have the 
International Monetary Fund, funded by various nations, to bail them 
out. Unfortunately, when the United States has a debt crisis, if we do 
nothing about it, there will be no one left to bail us out.
  The problem with the statement of the President about the 
International Monetary Fund is that the Congress has also spoken on 
that issue. Senator Vitter and I sponsored an amendment last summer 
that was incorporated into the so-called Dodd-Frank Act or the 
financial services regulatory reform bill. This amendment was approved 
unanimously by the Senate and became law by the President's hand. This 
provision, included in section 1501 of the Dodd-Frank Act, requires the 
Treasury Secretary to determine whether IMF loans to countries that are 
already deeply in debt will likely be repaid and certify that 
determination to Congress. Furthermore, if an IMF loan will not be 
repaid, the Treasury Secretary is required to direct the executive 
director to vote in opposition to the proposed loan. These provisions 
became Federal law for a reason--because we sought to protect U.S. 
taxpayers from being used by the IMF to bail out foreign nations that 
have been making irresponsible spending decisions.
  As I said earlier, I hope the failure of the President to comply with 
this mandatory requirement under the Medicare law we passed in 2003 is 
simply an oversight. But we know that so far the President and the 
majority party in the Senate have not submitted--the President has 
actually submitted a budget that doubles the debt in 5 years and 
triples it in 10 years, but he has made no response to the Medicare 
trustees' statement that Medicare will be insolvent in 13 years. 
Instead, he has attacked the only people who have been responsible 
enough to come up with a proposal. Admittedly, the proposal may not be 
perfect, but it is a responsibility of all of us to do what we

[[Page S3670]]

can to try to solve problems, not just attack people and use it for 
political advantage when other people try to step up and meet their 
obligations.
  The issue is respect for the law, and the issue is whether the checks 
and balances in our Constitution are still in place. The question is 
whether the President somehow considers himself above the law or 
whether the law applies to him just as it does to each one of us.
  I hope this is an oversight. I hope the President will remedy that 
oversight and he will submit proposed legislation to deal with this 
impending insolvency of Medicare forthwith.
  I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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