[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 11, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1497-S1498]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I want to compliment my colleagues from 
Wyoming and Texas for talking about the issues that are important to 
the American people. People in this country care about jobs and the 
economy. I think one of the reasons there were not more Democratic 
Senators down here last night is because a lot of them, as some pointed 
out, hit the snooze button, didn't want to come down here and talk 
about an issue which they realize ranked very low in people's 
assessment of what is really important in their daily lives. I think 
that is probably why most Americans, by and large, tuned out the all-
night session we had on the floor.
  We did have a number of Senate Democrats who came down and engaged in 
what they referred to as a talkathon on climate change. I don't know 
who coined the term ``talkathon'' to describe the event, but it is a 
perfect term. It really fits, since the event was all talk and no 
action.
  In fact, writing ahead of the talkathon, USA Today noted, and I 
quote:

       The Democratic effort is cause for some confusion, because 
     these Senators are calling for action in a chamber they 
     control, but without any specific legislation to offer up for 
     a vote or any timetable for action this year.

  Well, that is exactly right. Last night's filibuster was not designed 
to advance any legislation, nor was it a protest about the lack of 
legislation. After all, the Democrats control the Chamber and they can 
bring up a bill any time they want. Although last night's event may 
have had all the trappings of significant Senate action, it was nothing 
but talk.
  If the Democrats really think government action on climate change is 
so important, one would assume last night they would have used it to 
debate a bill or try to persuade their leadership to bring one up on 
the floor. But they didn't, because it is an election year and 
Democrats are already deeply worried about their election prospects, 
and they know very well the American people do not like the climate 
change legislation they have offered up. The climate change bills 
Democrats have proposed almost invariably involve tax hikes that would 
drive the cost of energy sky high for ordinary families and kill jobs, 
all for extremely dubious environmental gains. The last time Congress 
debated the cap-and-trade bill was in 2009. That bill was estimated to 
destroy 2.5 million jobs. Perhaps that is why several Democrats who 
represent energy-producing States didn't make it to last night's 
talkathon. They must be tired of defending more job-destroying 
policies.
  For families who are already struggling with reduced income and high 
health care costs that have characterized the Obama economy for the 
past 5 years, increased energy prices and more job losses are the last 
thing they want to face. Democrats know that climate change legislation 
is a nonstarter in an election year, but they still have their radical 
environmental base to worry about, the same base that is pushing the 
President not to approve the Keystone Pipeline despite five separate 
environmental reviews that found its impact on the environment would be 
negligible.
  Last night's talkathon, designed for maximum media exposure, allowed 
Democrats to assure their donors that they are focused on climate 
change without actually having to do anything, anything that would be 
difficult or politically damaging, such as going on the record and 
actually voting for a specific bill.
  Last month Gallup released a poll on America's top concerns. Climate 
change didn't even make the top 10. Jobs and the economy, on the other 
hand, came in at the very top, not surprisingly. The American people 
have a very good assessment of what is important. Gallup polling shows 
that those two issues have been among Americans' top five concerns for 
most of the past 6 years. Despite this, however, Democrats have shown 
very little inclination to take real action on the economy. In fact, 
most of their policies are making our economic situation worse.
  The policy that is doing the most economic damage is ObamaCare. Any 
way you look at it, ObamaCare means bad economic news for just about 
everybody. Millions of Americans have had the plans they like canceled, 
and far too many of them have found their ObamaCare alternative will 
cost more and offer them less.
  Families around the country have enrolled in exchange plans that have 
left them wondering how they are going to be able to afford the plan's 
$10,000 and $12,000 deductibles. Low-income seniors enrolled in 
Medicare Advantage are wondering how they will afford the premium hikes 
and the benefit reductions that will soon hit them, thanks to 
ObamaCare's Medicare cuts. Eleven million small business workers are 
not sure how a bill that promised more affordable health care is 
actually raising--raising--their health care costs.
  Then there are the businesses that are changing their plans to hire 
new workers because ObamaCare's mandates and fees mean they cannot 
afford to expand. The workers who are having their hours cut because 
ObamaCare means their employer cannot afford to keep them on as full-
time workers. The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated 
ObamaCare will mean 2.5 million fewer full-time workers and 
approximately $1 trillion in lower wages. That is a lot of lost 
economic opportunity.
  But you do not have to take my word for it, because Republicans are 
not the only people who are worried about

[[Page S1498]]

ObamaCare's effects on the economy and on the middle class. A lot of 
the President's allies are worried too. Democrats who are running in 
red States are running scared and are starting to talk about the need 
to amend the law.
  And then there are the unions. Unions are, of course, historically 
Democratic supporters and they were instrumental in getting ObamaCare 
passed in the first place and helping to get the President reelected. 
Now unions are rethinking their support. At the end of last week UNITE 
HERE, which is a huge union with over one-quarter of a million members 
from all over the hospitality industry, published a white paper on 
ObamaCare which they called ``The Irony of ObamaCare: Making Inequality 
Worse.''
  What does the document say? Well, it says what Republicans have been 
saying all along, that ObamaCare is going to make things much worse for 
the middle class. I want to quote from the first page:

       Ironically, the administration's own signature healthcare 
     victory poses one of the most immediate challenges to 
     redressing inequality. . . . without smart fixes, the 
     Affordable Care Act threatens the middle class with higher 
     premiums, loss of hours, and a shift to part-time work and 
     less comprehensive coverage.

  That is from a white paper put out by one of the Nation's major 
unions. In 12 pages that document demolishes the administration's claim 
that the bill will help the middle class. It takes aim at the 
administration's ridiculous assertion that the law will not discourage 
business expansion or result in employers cutting hours. Worker hours, 
the union points out, have already been cut at nearly a third of U.S. 
franchise businesses.
  Other businesses have chosen to replace full-time workers with part 
time workers, and still others have announced their intention of 
staying below 50 employees to avoid being hit by the worst of the law's 
mandates. The union also points out the likelihood of employers dumping 
employee health plans thanks to the law's requirements, leaving 
employees to obtain health care in the exchanges.
  Here is what the union has to say about dropped employees, and again 
I quote:

       For dropped employees, being pushed onto the exchanges will 
     mean a major loss of income for health benefits. Families 
     moving to the exchanges may lose between 4 percent and 25 
     percent of income to maintain equivalent benefits.

  Again, that is from the union white paper on ObamaCare. Major loss of 
income or health benefits, families within the exchanges may lose 
between 4 and 25 percent of income--between 4 percent and 25 percent of 
income.
  We are not talking about rich families here. We are talking about 
families who are making $40,000 or $50,000 or $60,000 a year. Even a 4-
percent income loss would make a huge dent in these families' budgets. 
A 25-percent income loss for a family making that amount of money would 
be devastating.
  Finally, the union concludes by pointing out a study in the Brookings 
Institution--again, not exactly a bastion of conservatism--that shows 
that those making below $25,000 will get some benefit of the Affordable 
Care Act. But those right above them, families with incomes of $20,000 
to $38,000, will lose income. ``Only in Washington,'' the report 
concludes, ``could asking the bottom of the middle class to finance 
health care for the poorest families be seen as reducing inequality.''
  Again, that is a quote from that report by UNITE HERE labor union.
  I want to remind everyone this is not a Republican document. It is a 
document produced by some of President Obama's biggest supporters. In 
fact, UNITE HERE was actually the first union to endorse then-Senator 
Obama in 2008. So this isn't an organization seeking to damage the 
President politically or to provide Republicans with talking points. 
But like so many Americans around the country, UNITE HERE has been 
forced to an inescapable conclusion, and that conclusion is that 
ObamaCare just isn't working. It is doing the opposite of what it was 
intended to do. It is making health care more expensive for families. 
It is discouraging employees from hiring. It is reducing Americans' 
health care choices.
  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent for an additional minute.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. THUNE. It is reducing Americans' health care choices, and it is 
encouraging employers to cut hours and benefits. Our health care system 
may have needed reform, but this was not the way to do it. Even the 
President's strongest supporters are having buyers' remorse, and a lot 
of Americans are hurting right now thanks to the President's health 
care law.
  As we hear from more Americans, South Dakotans, people all across 
this country, who are struggling under the law, I hope the Democrats 
here who I believe privately are rethinking their vote for this law 
will have the courage to publicly join us in calling for its repeal.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.

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