[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 56 (Tuesday, April 23, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2864-S2865]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, recently the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, gave a speech in which she said she 
didn't realize how complicated it would be to implement the President's 
health care law. She didn't attribute this to all of the flaws that all 
of us know are in the law. The only problems she could see were 
because, she said, of Republican opposition.
  Here is how one newspaper, Investor's Business Daily, described it: 
``Blaming GOP for ObamaCare.''
  The article goes through a list of problems with the law saying it is 
and it continues to be ``unpopular,'' ``expensive,'' ``ill-conceived'' 
and ``poorly written.''
  Democrats in Congress and the administration do not seem to be 
interested in admitting that there are flaws in their law. They are 
only interested in trying to make sure someone else takes the blame for 
their huge mistake. The question is, Are Republicans opposed to this 
law? Of course we are because it is a terrible law. Democrats know how 
much of a mess this law is too. Some of them are even finally willing 
to admit it.
  Last week the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on President 
Obama's budget for the next fiscal year. Secretary Sebelius testified 
at that hearing. I wish to read from an article in The Hill newspaper 
about what happened. The article is entitled: ``Baucus warns of `huge 
train wreck' in enacting ObamaCare provisions.'' A huge train wreck. 
The article identifies Senator Baucus as ``a key architect of the 
President's health care law'' and quotes him telling Secretary 
Sebelius: ``I just see a huge train wreck coming down.'' He added: 
``You and I have discussed this many times, and I don't see any results 
yet.''
  It also quotes the Senator saying: ``Small businesses have no idea 
what to do, what to expect.''
  I agree with Senator Baucus. Businesses do have no idea what to 
expect, and this health care law is a train wreck.
  So what does this mean in the real world? It is causing businesses to 
avoid hiring or to cut back hours. There are new headlines on this 
every day. Here is what one said last week: ``Nation's biggest movie 
theater chain cuts workweek, blaming ObamaCare.''
  Regal entertainment has more than 500 movie theaters in 38 different 
States. Last month it began cutting shifts for employees to 30 hours a 
week. That is the cutoff under the health care law where an employer 
has to provide health insurance. The company sent out a memo to its 
employees explaining why it had to cut shifts. It said:

       To comply with the Affordable Care Act, Regal had to 
     increase our health care budget to cover those newly deemed 
     eligible based on the law's definition of a full time 
     employee.


[[Page S2865]]


  One theater manager said they have had a wave of resignations from 
managers who have seen their hours cut by 25 percent.
  He said:

       In the last couple of weeks, managers have been quitting on 
     a daily basis from various locations to try and find full-
     time work. Mandating businesses to offer health care under 
     threat of debilitating fines doesn't fix the problem, it 
     creates one.

  We already had 22 million people in this country who either can't 
find a job or can't find the full-time work they want. Now we have even 
more hard-working Americans whose hours are being cut because of the 
unreasonable burdens of the President's health care law. That is what 
this law does to jobs in America. That is what the coming health care 
train wreck looks like.
  Here is another headline, this one from the New York Times over the 
weekend. It is on page 1. At the top of the page is the news about the 
capture of the second bomber. At the bottom of page 1: ``Part-Time Work 
Becomes Full-Time Waits for Better Job.'' Part-time work is a full-time 
wait for a better job. The article talks about exactly this problem of 
people who want full-time work but can only find part-time work.
  The article specifically cites the health care law as a reason why so 
many people are having trouble. It quotes one economist saying:

       There is another reason to believe that part-time 
     employment will stay higher for longer, namely, the 
     incentives to employ part-time workers created by Obama's 
     health care reforms.

  The article goes on to add: ``Confusion about the law and its 
requirements abounds.''
  That is the same point Senator Baucus made. Businesses don't know 
what to expect, people don't know what is going to happen and it is 
hurting families and it is holding down our economy. Again, that is 
what the health care train wreck looks like.
  The train wreck also means the health care law is going to be very 
hard on family finances. It is going to increase how much people have 
to spend for insurance and care. A study by the Society of Actuaries 
says costs for health claims will go up an average of 32 percent--a 32-
percent average increase across the country. Those higher costs are 
going to be passed along to consumers. That means more money out of the 
pockets of hard-working people, and that is going to be money they 
can't afford to lose right now.
  We got another sign of the coming health care train wreck when 
President Obama finally released his budget for the next fiscal year. 
Of course, it came in over 2 months late. That is later than any other 
President who was already in office at the beginning of the year.
  Why did it take so long? President Obama certainly didn't use the 
extra time to come up with any sort of a plan to stabilize the Nation's 
finances. Instead, he continues to add to the debt burden of America's 
children and makes it harder for Americans of all ages to achieve their 
dreams. Deficits continue far into the future. The President also 
offered no real entitlement reform and no plan to grow America's 
stagnant economy. President Obama is truly budgeting from behind.
  What is interesting about his budget, though, is not just how late it 
is; it isn't just what that says about the lack of leadership from the 
White House. What is also very interesting is what this budget says 
about the coming train wreck of the President's own health care law.
  The train wreck is coming not just because the President's health 
care law is unaffordable for families; it is also unaffordable for the 
taxpayers of this country. The President's budget fails to slow down 
Washington spending, but it is also dishonest about how much of a 
budget buster his health care law will be.
  In fact, the administration has used a lot of smoke and mirrors to 
try to hide the true costs of the health care law. Here is how the 
Associated Press put it. They ran an article entitled ``Tracking 
Obama's health law in budget isn't easy.'' The article points out that 
the President's budget includes no chapter, no table, not even a 
mention of what all the health care spending adds up to.
  This Associated Press article quotes Bill Hoagland, who is a senior 
vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center. He says: ``I'm sure 
somebody has a spreadsheet somewhere, but clearly they are not 
publishing it in this budget.''

  The Obama administration knows that if they spelled out exactly how 
much this law is costing, the American people would be outraged.
  So what do we know about the cost of the health care law? We know the 
President wants almost $975 billion for the Department of Health and 
Human Services next year. It is a budget increase of over $100 billion 
since just last year--an 11.5-percent increase. The health care law was 
supposed to help slow down the growth in spending. Instead, it is using 
taxpayer dollars to fuel the fire, and it is powering us toward the 
coming train wreck faster than ever.
  Part of the money would go to pay for 3,000 more Washington 
bureaucrats at Health and Human Services. That kind of increase in 
Washington spending is not something the American people need, and it 
is not anywhere close to what we as a nation can afford.
  In another part of the budget, it says Washington needs $32 billion 
to pay for what the administration calls premium assistance credits. 
Those are the subsidies to help people pay for the new insurance they 
are going to have to get under the President's health care law. That is 
taking $32 billion from taxpayers to help hide how unaffordable this 
health care law is for families. The President says that 10 years from 
now this $32 billion will grow to $118 billion a year. That is a train 
wreck.
  What else does the President want? He wants $772 million for 
administrative costs at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 
That is going to pay for more than 4,600 bureaucrats.
  When I talk to people about their health care concerns, nobody has 
ever told me--and I am a doctor; I have practiced for over two decades 
in Wyoming and I was home this weekend at a health care fair--nobody 
has ever told me the problem is we don't have enough Washington 
bureaucrats. I have never heard that, not even once.
  Still, that is exactly what we are going to get under the President's 
budget and under this health care law: costs going up instead of down; 
debt going up, not down; the Washington bureaucracy getting bigger and 
bigger. That is a train wreck.
  The President's budget also asks for $440 million for the IRS to 
administer the health care law. That is $440 million the IRS would not 
need if Democrats had not forced this law on the American people. The 
Internal Revenue Service is going to need 1,954 more employees just to 
implement the health care law, not more doctors, not more nurses--1,954 
more IRS employees. That is just the beginning of what the agency is 
going to be asking for in the next few years. We are going to see an 
army of new IRS agents and auditors to investigate the health insurance 
choices of Americans and their families.
  The Obama administration isn't worried about all that power in the 
hands of those IRS agents. It is not worried about how unaffordable the 
health care law is for taxpayers. The only thing this administration 
seems to worry about is who is going to take the blame for the train 
wreck we all know is coming right around the corner.
  The President's health care law is bad for our economy, it is bad for 
consumers, it is bad for patients, and it is bad for the health care 
providers of our Nation.
  Now the President's budget makes clear his health care law is also 
very bad for hard-working American taxpayers. The people wanted real 
health care reform, but Washington Democrats instead gave them a train 
wreck.
  I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. TESTER. Mr. 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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