[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 15, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S665-S666]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            A SECOND OPINION

  Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor because of a new 
report that has come out by the chief economist of Gallup, the polling 
organization, dated today, February 15, 2012. The headline is: ``Health 
Costs,

[[Page S666]]

Gov't Regulations Curb Small Business Hiring.''
  As a Member of the Senate as well as a physician who has taken care 
of families across the State of Wyoming for about a quarter of a 
century, I am concerned about jobs in this country, the economy in this 
country, and also the health care needs of the American people, which 
is why week after week I come to the Senate floor with a doctor's 
second opinion about a health care law that was supposed to give people 
what they were looking for, which was the care they need, from the 
doctor they want, at a cost they can afford.
  Regrettably, what this President and this Senate and this House--at 
the time controlled by the Democrats--gave them is something very 
different. So the result of this report today--first line: U.S. small 
business owners who aren't hiring, that is 85 percent of the 600 who 
were surveyed, those small business owners who are not hiring are being 
asked: Why not?
  Nearly half the small business owners point to the potential health 
care costs and government regulations as two big reasons. Those worried 
about the potential cost of health care: 48 percent. Those worried 
about new government regulations: 46 percent.
  But yet when the President addressed the Nation about health care, 
what he promised was that if people liked the care they had, they could 
keep it, and they would see their premiums drop by $2,500 a year a 
family.
  When I have townhall meetings, I ask how many people believe the 
health care costs are going to go up as a result of the health care 
law. Every hand goes up in the room. So the President has misled the 
American people both in terms of the cost of the health care law as 
well as he misled the people in regard to regulations. He stood in 
front of us in the House of Representatives as he gave his State of the 
Union Address and talked about removing expensive regulations. But that 
is not what the small business owners, those who create the jobs in 
this country, that is not what they are finding.
  Then the President came out with his budget on Monday. It is his 
fiscal year 2013 budget. As I have said before, it is ``debt on 
arrival.'' The Obama budget spends $3.8 trillion. It runs a deficit of 
nearly $1 trillion. It raises taxes by nearly $1.9 trillion. It is the 
largest tax increase in the history of our country, and it is the 
fourth year in a row to run a deficit of over $1 trillion.
  Yet the President goes on. To me, this is another clear example of 
President Obama's lack of leadership and his bad habit of saying one 
thing and doing the exact opposite. Instead of saving money, which he 
promises, he just spends more. Instead of leveling with the American 
people about our fiscal future, he misleads them.
  So I would like to focus on one specific part of this budget. It is 
the part referring to and regarding the President's health care law. As 
we all remember, the President promised the American people repeatedly, 
not just once but repeatedly, that his health care reform would not add 
a dime to the deficit. Two years later, the American people know that 
is just not true. In fact, the President's new budget asks for almost 
$1 billion--$1 billion, that is 1,000 million--$1 billion to fund his 
health care exchange.
  As The Hill newspaper recently reported, ``The health reform law did 
not set aside any money specifically for the creation of the Federal 
exchanges.'' Let me repeat that. The health care law did not set aside 
any money specifically for the creation of the Federal exchanges.
  Two years ago, did the President and my friends on the other side of 
the aisle seriously believe Washington would be able to implement an 
unprecedented health care exchange for free, that it would just be 
free? Of course not. But the fact is, they knowingly--knowingly--
ignored the costs of the President's major new entitlement program. 
Why?
  To try to score a political victory. What do we know about that 
victory? We know it is going to be bad for patients, bad for the 
providers, the nurses and doctors who take care of those patients, and 
bad for the American taxpayers. The health care law, when it was 
crammed down the throats of the American people and forced through 
Congress, we knew it was unpopular then, and we know it is even more 
unpopular today.
  The whole time the Democrats were drafting the bill behind closed 
doors, right outside this Senate Chamber, they knew it would cost 
American taxpayers billions and billions of dollars. But they did not 
want to admit it. They did not admit it. They refused to admit it. So 
they shaded the numbers. They punted this down the road. Here we are 2 
years later and now they are finally trying to pay for it--listed in 
the President's budget.
  To make matters worse, the 2013 Obama budget wants to spend $290 
million for ``consumer beneficiary education and outreach'' within the 
exchanges. What does this mean? It basically means they want to educate 
Americans about the exchanges in the health care law to the tune of 290 
million of taxpayer dollars.
  I think it is important to keep the American people informed. But my 
question is: Why are President Obama and the Democrats in Congress 
focused on educating people about the health care law now? Why? Why 
didn't they take the time 2 years ago to educate the American people 
about the exchanges and the costs of doing this?
  We know the reason. The reason is because they knew the American 
people would never support the new law, would never give up their 
freedoms. Instead, the White House and Democrats in Congress covered up 
the costs, drafted the bill behind closed doors, and jammed it through 
Congress.
  Now the financial bills are coming due, but the checks are not in the 
mail. The United States is running out of money and running out of 
money fast. Instead of proposing a serious budget that would get our 
country back on the right track, the President has put forward not a 
serious budget but a campaign document. No matter what he says, he is 
much more interested in winning votes now than in winning what he calls 
the future.
  Earlier this week, the President spoke to students at a community 
college. He said his budget would make their futures brighter. I 
watched on television as he said that. His words could not have been 
further from the truth. The fact is, the President and his budget will 
make these students have to work even harder to pay off the Nation's 
increasingly growing debt. These students and all future generations of 
Americans will pay for the choices they never made and programs they do 
not want.
  The new $800 million pricetag on the exchanges is bad, and that is 
just the beginning. In fact, the cost of the President's health care 
law is going to continue to skyrocket each and every year. When we are 
already $15 trillion in debt, we cannot allow this health care law to 
move forward. When we look at trillion-dollar deficits for each of the 
4 years of the Obama Presidency, we say this cannot continue. Yet when 
we look at this budget, it adds $11 trillion to the national debt over 
the next 10 years.
  We need to repeal this health care law. We need to replace it with 
something that will not make it harder for future generations to get 
out of debt, and we need to pass a law that will allow Americans to get 
what they wanted in the first place; the care they need, from a doctor 
they want, at a price they can afford.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MERKLEY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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